Analysis of the Nursing Competence of Senior Nursing Students

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to analyze the senior nursing students’ clinical competence pre-and post-clinical practice and its relationship with clinical settings. Yu’squestionnaire, the Scale of Nursing Competence, was adopted for data collection and was self-administered by 898 senior students (4 th to 5 th year).A total of 798 pre test and 689 post test questionnaire were returned. The results showed:( 1) The students’ overall competence ranked between “competent” and “somewhat competent” both pre-and post- clinical practice. (2) Among the six sub- scales, interpersonal relationship (IPR) / communication was the highest and the critical care the lowest on both pre and post tests. (3) After practice, all students had higher clinical competence score with statistical significance in overall competence, planning/evaluation, teaching/ collaboration, IPR/communication, leadership and professional development. (4)The students’ practice in medical centers showed improvement in teaching/collab oration and IPR/communication. In regional hospitals there was improvement in overall nursing professional competence , planning/evaluation, teaching/collaboration, IPR/ communication and leadership. Students who rotated between hospitals showed improvement in overall competence and in all sub-scales except critical care. (5) Except for leadership competence, there were no significant relationship between the competence improvement and the clinical setting.