A Study Of Nursing Competence Of Clinical Nurses In The General Hospitals Above Second-B Level Of NJ City

BackgroundChinese hospitals are commonly short of nurses. Studies proved that nurse shortage affected not only the safety of patients, but also the development of nurse and nursing. Managers should guarantee and improve nurses' competence in order to alleviate the blight of nurse shortage and assure the quality of nursing. Although nursing competence has been studied over the past 30 years in western countries and regions, such as the Unite States, Australia, the European Union, yet little is known about Chinese nurses. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the level and factors influencing nursing competence.ObjectiveThe aim of the study is to describe the level of nursing competence of nurses in the hospitals above Second-B level of NJ City and determine the factors which affect the nursing competence in order to provide scientific information for nursing human resource management. SubjectsAll registered nurses being engaged in clinical nursing in the general hospitals above Second-B level of NJ City were included. Nurses who were not on duty due to taking training, health problem, etc. were excluded.MethodA cross-sectional survey was adopted. 969 nurses among 8 hospitals according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria completed the questionnaire from Aug. to Oct. in 2006. Their nursing competence was measured by Nursing Competence Scale developed by Yu (Taiwan).Data analysisAll data were entered into the computer used Epidata 3.0 software, and analyzed used the Statistical Package for Social Sciences, version 11.5. The statistical methods included: descriptive statistics, analysis of variance (ANOVA), multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), and multiple linear regression analysis (stepwise).Results1 The score of overall nursing competence was 73.99±9.81, nursing process applying competence was 71.72±11.03, critical patient care competence was 76.56±10.81, health education competence was 72.16±11.23, interpersonal relation/communication competence was 79.04±10.45, management competence was 74.34±11.24, and professional development competence was 71.12±11.80. Among the six nursing competences, the score of interpersonal relation/communication was the highest and the scores of professional development competence, nursing process applying competence, and health education competence were the lowest.2 There were statistical differences in nurses' nursing competences among different groups of age, experience, education, professional position, work position, hospital level, job position, personal interest in nursing, perceived future of nursing, teaching activities, and marital status.3 Stepwise regression analysis indicated that:3.1 The factors influencing nursing process applying competence were experience, personal interest in nursing, education, work position, hospital level, teaching activities, perceived future of nursing, and marital status.3.2 The factors influencing critical patient care competence were personal interest in nursing, experience, education, work position, hospital level, teaching activities, and marital status.3.3 The factors influencing health education competence were experience, personal interest in nursing, teaching activities, education, work position, and hospital level.3.4 The factors influencing interpersonal relation/communication competence were personal interest in nursing, work position, experience, hospital level, education, and marital status.3.5 The factors influencing management competence were experience, personal interest in nursing, work position, hospital level, marital status, teaching activities, and education.3.6 The factors influencing professional development competence were personal interest in nursing, education, hospital level, experience, teaching activities, marital status, and perceived future of nursing.3.7 The factors influencing overall nursing competence were personal interest in nursing, experience, work position, hospital level, education, teaching activities, and marital status.Conclusion1 The clinical nurses in the general hospitals above Second-B level of NJ City have basic nursing competences, but their competences should be improved, especially the competences of professional development, nursing process applying, and health education.2 The study hypothesis 'nurses with different personal characteristics have different nursing competence' is received. Managers should administrate the nursing human resource according to nurses' competence.Study limitations1 Larger population should be included for further study.2 There is no norm of Nursing Competence Scale in China at present. To identify the level of nurses' nursing competence by the scores of scale is limited.