New graduate nurses’ self-assessed competencies: An integrative review

Abstract

Much of the ongoing shortage of nurses can be attributed to high turnover rates, and open positions are mostly filled by new graduate nurses who often lack the competencies required to provide quality patient care. An additional problem is that over 20% of these nurses leave their positions within 1 year, and low nursing competency is a main contributor to their decision. New graduate nurses' competencies are typically evaluated by experienced nurses who attempt to provide objective assessment of deficiencies, but this approach has not reduced turnover rates. Therefore, this integrative review explored new graduate nurses' self-assessed competencies. The review revealed that new graduate nurses' self-assessed deficiencies included advanced technical skills, critical thinking, communication, teamwork, helping role, and professionalism, most of which were associated with “soft” skills. New graduate nurses’ possession not only of “hard” nursing skills within the cognitive and psychomotor domains but also of soft skills that mostly lie within the affective domain is vital to achieve higher retention rates. Because soft-skill competencies are problematic to objectively evaluate, recommendations include development and frequent application of a more objective measure such as a rubric, greater emphasis on soft skills in education, and supervised hands-on training in supportive practice settings.