The gerontological nurse specialist's core competencies in China: A cross-sectional study.

Bai Chunlan,Hu Xiuying,Pu Lihui,Chen Hongxiu

doi:10.1002/nop2.583

Abstract

Aim To describe the core competencies of gerontological nurse specialists and investigate the factors that contribute to the development of core competencies.DesignA descriptive cross‐sectional study was conducted from August 2015–March 2016.MethodsThe descriptive study of gerontological nurse specialists’ core competencies used a self‐assessment instrument with three first‐level domains (attitude, skill and knowledge) and 9 s‐level dimensions. A total of 225 gerontological nurse specialists from ten provinces in China were selected by a convenience sampling method.ResultsThe average core competency score of the gerontological nurse specialists was 3.78, in the middle level(3.30–4.17/5.00). Core competency was associated with gerontological nurse specialists’ age (p = .005), professional title (p = .017), hospital level (p = .006) and passion for geriatric nursing (p = .000). The average scores of attitude, skill and knowledge were 4.45, 4.02 and 4.18, respectively. All first‐level domains were related to age (p ≤ .021) and passion for geriatric nursing (p ≤ .008); knowledge and skill were associated with professional title (p ≤ .045) and attitude and skill were associated with hospital level (p ≤ .020).

Highlights

At the end of 2018, there were 249 million people aged 65 years or over in China, accounting for 11.4% of the total population (National Bureau of Statistics, 2018)
The core competencies were used as the standard for nursing administrators to evaluate nurses and determine their strengths and the areas in need of improvement (Conley, 2011), and they were the key to ensuring the provision of high-quality nursing services (Cutugno, 2015)
The GNSs reported that they had middle-level knowledge (4.18) and their professional geriatric nursing knowledge (4.29), such as ageing, comprehensive syndromes of older adults, common chronic

Summary

Introduction

At the end of 2018, there were 249 million people aged 65 years or over in China, accounting for 11.4% of the total population (National Bureau of Statistics, 2018). In China, 74.2% of adults older than 60 years have at least 1 common chronic disease (Cui, Mao, & Wang, 2016). A national survey indicated that 59.2% of older inpatients were over 80 years old, the average number of hospitalizations tripled with increasing age and the number of re-hospitalizations increased significantly (Xu, et al, 2014). Many studies on the competency of GNSs have been performed. A recent study in Israel described the professional competencies of gerontological nurse practitioners and found that they had a positive attitude about their clinical role but that their professional knowledge and skills could be improved (Yafa, Dorit, & Shoshana, 2016). Few studies have described the core competencies of GNSs (Boscart, Mccleary, Huson, Sheiban, & Harvey, 2016), especially those working in hospitals

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