Investigation on core competency of vocational nursing students when graduated

Abstract

Objective To investigate the core competency of vocational nursing students when they graduated, and to find out the weaknesses of core competency in order to further improvements. Methods A total of 281 vocational nursing students and 60 nurses who had worked for over 10 years were selected as the participants. The questionnaires about core competency of nurses were investigated among the participants, and the results were compared. Results As for the vocational nursing students± 281 questionnaires were distributed and 280 questionnaires were returned, with an effective rate of 98. 22%. As for the nurses, 60 questionnaires were distributed and 60 questionnaires were returned, with an effective rate of 100%. The vocational nursing students＇ scores of organizational ability, cooperation ability, health education ability, anti-pressure ability and cormnunication ability were （2. 75 ± 0. 98 ）, （ 3.17 ± 0.94 ）, （ 3.26 ± 0. 89 ）, （ 2. 97 ± 0. 82 ） and （ 3.01 ± O. 85 ）, respectively, which were higher than the clinical nurses＇ evaluated scores of （ 3.07 ± 0. 79 ）, （ 3.48 ± 0. 89）, （ 3.53 ± 0.74 ）, （ 3.22 ± 0. 86 ） and （ 3.26 ± 0. 77 ）. The self-evaluated score of professional knowledge was （3.58 ±0.71 ）, which was lower than the score of （3.99 ±0. 83） given by the clinical nurses. The differences were significant （ t = 3.93,2. 37,2. 34,2. 19,2. 12,2. 19, respectively; P 〈 0.05 ）. Chosen by the vocational nursing students and the clinical nurses, the top 5 aspects which played an important role in nursing profession were clinical practice capacity, professional skills, problem-solving ability, cooperation ability and communication skills; The top 5 aspects which were urgent in settle were problem-solving ability, professional attitude, communication skills, clinical practice capacity and anti-pressure ability. Conclusions The core competency of vocational nursing students was unsatisfactory, especially for the ability of critical thinking and humanism needed improvements. Key words: Vocational nursing students; Graduation; Core competency