Preparing for the Next Pandemic: The Clinical Skills Self-Efficacy Scale as an Outcome Measurement for an RN Refresher Program

Abstract

An RN refresher program can be a valuable tool to mobilize nurses back into practice, but there are limited data regarding how much it increases students' confidence. Bandura's ( 1997 ) theory defines self-efficacy as a construct of one's belief in obtaining control over behavior and environment to achieve a goal. In this study, the validated Clinical Skills Self-Efficacy Scale (CSES) was used to measure the difference in a student's reported perception of self-efficacy after completing a refresher program. The CSES survey was distributed to two groups of RN students: 59 accelerated students who finished the course in 3 months and 57 traditional students who had 9 months to complete the course. The accelerated students had recent nursing experience, but were responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. A mixed model was used to analyze the CSES scores between the accelerated students and the traditional students. A pretest–posttest design was used for each item of the scale. Both groups of students had a statistically significant difference in their CSES scores from pretest to posttest ( p < .05). [ J Contin Educ Nurs . 2022;53(6):273–278.]