Nurse professional competence (NPC) assessed among newly graduated nurses in higher educational institutions in Europe

Abstract

Nursing education will play an important role in further advancing healthcare transformation in the future. The aim of this study was to assess and compare nursing education and self-reported professional competence among nursing students graduating with a bachelor's degree from higher education institutions in Europe. Data were collected using the Nurse Professional Competence Scale including 88 items and eight competence areas. In total, 752 nursing students at 11 higher education institutions in Europe participated in the study, with a response rate of 88.7%. The highest measured mean scores were found in the competence areas ‘Value-based nursing care’ and ‘Medical technical care’ and the lowest were found in ‘Legislation in nursing and safety planning’ and ‘Education and supervision of staff and students’. Nursing students in central Europe scored significantly higher on seven out of the eight competence areas than nursing students in northern and southern Europe. In order to standardize and further develop nursing education in Europe, the assessment of nursing-related competences is of crucial importance.

Insufficiently supported in handling responsibility and demands: Findings from a qualitative study of newly graduated nurses

“…Taking time to reflect is a dynamic process that involves gaining new perspectives to develop nursing (Davis, Taylor, & Reyes, 2014). In relation to competence development and lifelong learning, the results in this study show the importance of self‐reflection as a way to further develop oneself, and this has also been shown in other studies (Forsman et al., 2019; Nilsson et al., 2019). Yet, the ability to think critically decreased after 9–15 months of clinical practice among NGRNs (Willman et al., 2020b).…”

“…The results show that the NGRNs' experiences challenge in the leadership and organisation of nursing care in complex patient situations. This is an important finding, and other recent statements (WHO, 2020) and studies presenting results on NGRNs' professional competence (Gardulf et al., 2019; Halabi, Lepp, & Nilsson, 2020; Nilsson et al., 2019) indicate a need to transform nursing education so it has a greater focus on competencies relating to leadership and the organisation of nursing care. These competencies are often taught during the latter part of nursing education programmes (Theander et al., 2016), which will not give nursing students the possibility to internalise theory and practice.…”

Assessing Self-Reported Competence Among Registered Nurses Working as a Culturally Diverse Work Force in Public Hospitals in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

“…Previous studies using the NPC Scale reported good reliability in terms of Cronbach’s alpha ranging from 0.71 to 0.96 in samples of newly graduated nurses in Sweden (Forsman et al, 2020; Nilsson et al, 2014; Nilsson et al, 2018) and in Europe (Nilsson et al, 2019). The scale has shown that it can be used to evaluate the outcomes of nursing education programs (Castrèn et al, 2017; Theander et al, 2016), and could be used to assess nurses’ competences in relation to the needs in health care organizations, to identify self-reported competences and in tailoring introduction programs for newly employed nurses (Nilsson et al, 2014).…”

Global Nursing - A Qualitative Case Study of Tanzanian Nursing Students' Experiences of Student Exchange in Sweden

“…This study suggests that nursing exchange programmes increase knowledge on global health and global nursing as indicated in other studies (34)(35)(36). Nursing curricula should also include global health to prepare nurses for the needs of the global community (37), such as the SRCUC who has adopted global nursing as their pro le area.…”