Abstract
Introduction: The complexity of patients' needs in today's health care calls for a revision and extension of nursing professions to ensure optimal health care outcomes. The aim of the research was to assess the understanding of the four categories of the nursing care continuum and, accordingly, four categories of nursing care providers.Methods: A descriptive, quantitative research design was employed. Participants included 365 nursing educators and nurses working in the clinical setting. The structured questionnaire used was based on the four categories of the nursing care continuum.Results: Secondary school teachers expressed significantly lower agreement with the terming of health care assistant (p < 0.001), and with the general (p < 0.001) and specific (p < 0.001) competencies of this profession, contrary to management workers (p < 0.001) and those trained in research (p = 0.030) and evidence-based care (p = 0.004) who expressed higher agreement with the competencies of health care assistants.Discussion and conclusion: The research draws attention to the issue of understanding and applying the competencies of health care assistants. In order to implement the workforce matrix of competences, the European Directive on regulated professions should be supplemented with minimum requirements for specialist knowledge and advanced practice in nursing. In addition, the competencies and minimum educational requirements for health care assistants should be defined.
Highlights
The complexity of patients' needs in today's health care calls for a revision and extension of nursing professions to ensure optimal health care outcomes
The guidelines of various international associations further explain the requirements set out by these directives. They advocate for an increase in the knowledge and education levels in nursing, and position it as a profession and a scientific discipline that contributes to meeting the health care needs of the society, thereby justifying the need for a variety of training for nurses to increase their knowledge and competences in patient work (World Health Organization [WHO], 2016, 2011; European Federation of Nurses Associations [EFN] 2015; International Council of Nurses [ICN], 2015)
When it came to naming nursing care provider categories, the Health Care Assistant (HCA) translation proposal had the lowest level of agreement ( = 3.29, s = 1.34) or revealed ambivalence about naming appropriateness in all areas of respondent employment (F = 17.170, df = 294, p < 0.001)
Summary
The complexity of patients' needs in today's health care calls for a revision and extension of nursing professions to ensure optimal health care outcomes. The guidelines of various international associations further explain the requirements set out by these directives They advocate for an increase in the knowledge and education levels in nursing, and position it as a profession and a scientific discipline that contributes to meeting the health care needs of the society, thereby justifying the need for a variety of training for nurses to increase their knowledge and competences in patient work (World Health Organization [WHO], 2016, 2011; European Federation of Nurses Associations [EFN] 2015; International Council of Nurses [ICN], 2015). Nursing competences and their assessment are topical issues in current nursing education and practice, contributing to the safety and quality of nursing care (Numminen, et al, 2014)
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