Factors associated with clinical practice competency among nursing and health science students in Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Clinical practice competence is affected by different factors in a clinical setting like the skill of the educator, staff–student interaction, and a clear assessment guideline. Effective mentoring and constructive feedback will also influence learning. Poor performance is caused by low competence and improving competency should improve performance. The purpose of this meta-analysis is to assess factors affecting the clinical practice competency of medical and health science students in Ethiopia. Methods: We conducted a related literature search (February up to March 2023) of PubMed and Web of Science databases for studies describing the factors associated with clinical practice competency among medical and health science students in Ethiopia. The quality of studies was independently assessed by the Newcastle–Ottawa quality scale (NOS), which was guided by the PRISMA checklist. The Q test and I2 statistics were used to evaluate the heterogeneity among selected studies. If the heterogeneity was obvious (I2>50%), the random effects model (REM) was used. If the heterogeneity was low (I2≤50%), the fixed effects model (FEM) was used. Results: There were 1613 participants in four (4) investigations. The pooled effect size of clinical practice competency among students in the form of odds ratio (OR) with the presence of a checklist was 3.40 (95% CI 2.50–4.62), p<0.01, I2=0%), with the orientation of objective was 3.84 (95% CI 2.29–6.43), p<0.00001, I2=57%), having confidence during performing the procedure was 2.16 (95% CI 1.17–3.99), p=0.01, I2=53%). The final pooled effect size after trim and fill analysis in the random effect model was found to be 1.27 (95%CI: -0.19, -2.73) for the association between staff encouragement to do practice and clinical practice competency. This indicated that absence of a significant association between staff encouragement to do practice and clinical practice competency among medical and health science students in Ethiopia. Conclusions: The presence of a checklist, the orientation of objective, and students having confidence while performing a procedure are factors associated with clinical practice competency among nursing and health science students in Ethiopia.