New nurse graduates' understanding of competence

Abstract

This article describes the findings of a phenomenographic research approach used to understand the experiences of competence of new nurse graduates. The aim of phenomenography is to describe the qualitatively different ways in which people understand a phenomenon. Six new graduates, who had been employed in two paediatric metropolitan hospitals in Australia, participated in the research. The graduates were interviewed and asked to describe and draw their understanding of competence. The interviews were audio-taped and transcribed verbatim. Interview transcripts were analysed according to accepted phenomenographic methods of analysis. The graduates described eight conceptions of competence: competence as safe practice; competence as limited independence; competence as utilization of resources; competence as management of time and workload; competence as ethical practice; competence as performance of clinical skills; competence as knowledge; and competence as evolving. The final outcome of identification of conceptions led to the development of an outcome space (a diagrammatic representation of the logical relations between conceptions). The outcome space depicted a three-level hierarchical relationship between the eight conceptions of competence experienced within a global framework of safety. The findings contribute to nursing knowledge by describing the meaning of competence from the perspective of the new nurse graduate. The need for support and assistance by employers of new graduates is confirmed from the findings. New nurse graduate experiences of competence provide suggestions for improving undergraduate education programmes as well as clarification of entry-level competency standards.

Development and psychometric evaluation of the radiographers’ competence scale

“…Definitions used to describe competence vary and, in particular, the simultaneous use of the terms competence and performance gives rise to confusion [3][4][5]. While [5] offers a distinction between the two concepts, where competence is concerned with perceived skills, and performance with an actual situated behaviour that is measurable.…”

Prince Edward Island: Building Capacity – The Implementation of a Critical Care/Emergency Program

“…There is little consensus on what constitutes adequate performance for newly graduated nurses. There is also no clear distinction between performance and competence (Ramritu & Barnard, 2001). Furthermore, there are differences between new graduates", educators" and practitioners" perceptions of performance (Ignatavicius, 1983;Failla, Maher & Duffy, 1999) and competence (Benner & Benner, 1979).…”

An evaluation of pedagogically informed parameterised questions for self‐assessment

“…An outcome of this implementation exposed a critical issue involving the expression of ethical practice within the COMBA model. One of the conceptions of competence for a nursing graduate is competence in ethical practice (Ramritu and Barnard 2001) as well as the other characteristics of professional service delivery involving knowledge and psychomotor skill (Defloor et al 2006). Hence, attitude, the way in which a learner exhibits their knowledge and skill, is included in the COMBA model, as illustrated in Figure 1.…”