| Objectives1. To examine the baccalaureate nursing graduates’ competency status and relatedinfluential factors in Fujian Province.2. To test the long term effects of nursing baccalaureate talents training.3. To explore effective methods of improving undergraduate nursing students’competency in nursing education.MethodsA cross-sectional research design was used to recruit635baccalaureate nursinggraduates, who graduated from three universities (marked A, B, C) during the periodof July,1997to July,2008in Fujian Province. The instruments employed for datacollection were Competency Inventory for Registered Nurse (CIRN), two open-endedquestions, along with a background data sheet. In addition, we also collectedassessment of128baccalaureate nursing graduates’ employers. The quantitive dataanalysis was done by the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version17.0(SPSS).Qualitative information was analyzed by coding and classification, and then extractedthe themes.Results1The status of baccalaureate nursing graduates’ competency and influential factors.1.1The status of baccalaureate nursing graduates’ competency.1.1.1Self-assessmentThe self-assessment overall average score is2.68±0.51. The highest score for thesubscales was Legal/ethical practice and the lowest was Teaching-coaching.1.1.2Employers’ assessmentThe overall average score assessed by their employers is2.60±0.57. The highestscore for the subscales was Legal/ethical practice and the lowest wasTeaching-coaching. 1.1.3The comparison of self-assessment and employers’ assessmentThe paired t-test showed that the overall average nursing competency inself-assessment was significantly higher than that calculated by employers’assessment (P＜0.05). The differences between the results of these two types ofassessment were also perfectly significant in four subscales (critical thinking/researchaptitude, leadership, interpersonal relation, and legal/ethical practice)(P＜0.05) whileno significant differences were found in the rest three subscales (clinical care,professional development and teaching-coaching)(P＞0.05).1.2The influential factors of baccalaureate nursing graduates’ competency.The multiple stepwise regression analysis showed that:①Self-regulated learning,baccalaureate nursing education, working years, professional attitude and working asa clinical nursing specialist were significant predictors of the overall average score ofnursing competency, accounting for30.3%of the variance;②Graduation universitywas a weak but significant predictor of the critical thinking/research aptitude andteaching/coaching subscales.2Feedback of the open-ended questions2.1Abilities need to be enhancedFrom the results of the open-ended question “Which abilities do you need toqualify the current job?”, two main themes were extracted: communication skills andpsychological quality.2.2Advices for the baccalaureate nursing educationFrom the results of the open-ended question “What are your advices or thesuggestions about the teaching methods and teaching contents in baccalaureatenursing education?”, one main theme was extracted: students hope participate theclinical practice/novitiate earlier.Conclusions1The level of the baccalaureate nursing graduates’ competency and related influentialfactorsThe competency of the baccalaureate nursing graduates was at the middle level and above. The main influential factors of the nursing competency included self-regulatedlearning, function of the nursing baccalaureate nursing education, working years,professional attitude, working as a clinical nursing specialist. The self-regulatedlearning was the best predictors of nursing competency. Graduate college is a weakpredictor of the nursing competency in the subscales of critical thinking/researchaptitude and teaching/coaching.2Effects of the long term baccalaureate nursing educationThe baccalaureate nursing education had positive effects on their graduate students.The college A had advantages over college B and C in cultivating students’ criticalthinking/research aptitude and teaching/coaching.3Advices for improving nursing competency in baccalaureate nursing education3.1Cultivating objectivesWe suggest nursing colleges strengthen the abilities of interpersonal relationshipand critical thinking of the students according cultivating objectives of theundergraduate nursing students and the demands of the employers.3.2Teaching strategyIn order to improve the students’ overall nursing competency, we suggest startingwith fostering their self-regulated learning capacity, communication capacity,psychological quality, adopting diversified teaching methods according to thedifferent curriculum types and contents, participating the clinical practice/novitiateearlier, and developing the second classes. |
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