Leveling the core competencies of public health nursing to evaluate senior baccalaureate nursing students

Abstract

Objectives This study assessed a revised instrument based on the tier one Core Competencies for Public Health Nurses. Following instrument revision, the self‐reported competence of prelicensure baccalaureate nursing students was examined. Design and Sample In this descriptive study, 102 senior, prelicensure baccalaureate nursing students completed a revised Core Competencies instrument prior to and immediately following completion of public health nursing courses. Parametric statistics were used to determine if there were significant differences in pre‐ and postcourse domain scores and the impact of selected demographic variables on postcourse domain scores. Results Pilot testing confirmed the reliability and validity of the revised instrument. A paired t test determined postcourse domain scores were significantly higher than precourse domain scores. Overall, students rated themselves as competent in all domains, with the lowest ratings of competence in policy development/program planning. Likelihood of choosing a future career in public health was significantly higher for students in traditional public health clinical settings. Conclusion The revised tier one Core Competency instrument provided information related to students’ self‐reported competence in public health nursing competencies. These findings provide valuable insight for development and revision of public health nursing courses ensuring a nursing workforce competent in the provision of population health.

A Sisyphean task: Developing and revising public health nursing competencies

“…This happened despite development of key standard definitions by the International CBME Collaborators (Frank et al, 2010). Axley (2008) Not only is an accepted definition elusive, but the many differing competency definitions contribute to another unintended consequence-the inability to precisely measure a competency's effectiveness (Larsen & Reif, 2019;Pijl-Zieber et al, 2014). Additional critiques center on the reliability and validity of methods to determine and evaluate competence (Franklin & Melville, 2015;Kane, 1992) and the position that the "top-down, prescriptive process" of competency assessment fails to provide the "objective" assessment that its proponents' claim it offers (Brooks, 2009, p. 94).…”

“…1: Literature reviewA search of CINHAL and PubMed databases of the past 30 years for psychometric evaluations of the seven sets of competencies analyzed revealed one published study of the QCC, 2011 competency set Larsen and Reif (2019). planned to use this competency set to evaluate the public health abilities of undergraduate nursing students.Needing a measurable instrument to conduct the analysis, the authors revised the QCC competencies and rearranged them to include only measurable items; these changes resulted in the incorporation of less than half (41/99; 41%) of the original competencies in their instrument.…”

Mixed‐method analysis of the quad council competencies for public health nurses

“…Instrument for evaluation provide relevant information to identify gaps in a public health workforce (Larsen & Reif, 2019;Siemon et al, 2018).…”

“…Research indicates that utilizing competency evaluation instruments provides the basis for congruence between public health practice and education. Self‐reported competencies and use of a Tier One Competency Instrument for evaluation provide relevant information to identify gaps in a public health workforce (Larsen & Reif, 2019; Siemon et al., 2018). Competency scores are positively related to years of nursing, years of PH experience, years in current position, and percent of time working with individuals and families in practice (Bigbee et al., 2010; Harmon et al., 2020; Oppewal et al., 2006).…”

Exploring the utility of nursing student‐led health fairs: Educating the college population

“…Peer‐to‐peer education in nursing has been found to be an effective pedagogy; however, the research is limited to senior nursing students educating/tutoring junior nursing students about nursing‐course‐related content (Brannagan et al., 2013; Larsen & Reif, 2019; Ramm et al., 2015). Peer‐to‐peer education can be a strategy to enhance learning, and increase student confidence and perceived competence in therapeutic communication and patient education.…”