The gerontological nurse specialist’s core competencies in China: A cross‐sectional study

Abstract

At the end of 2018, there were 249 million people aged 65 years or over in China, accounting for 11.4% of the total population (National Bureau of Statistics, 2018). In China, 74.2% of adults older than 60 years have at least 1 common chronic disease (Cui, Mao, & Wang, 2016). Due to the ageing of their bodily organs, it is difficult for them to maintain their physical and psychological balance (Fried, Ferrucci, Darer, Williamson, & Anderson, 2004). A national survey indicated that 59.2% of older inpatients were over 80 years old, the average number of hospitalizations tripled with increasing age and the number of re-hospitalizations increased significantly (Xu, et al, 2014). Older adults experience greater health risks and have a particularly increased demand for hospital care (Mara, Freitas, Flavia, & Cristina, 2017). Gerontological nurse specialists (GNSs) engage more in the application of elderly care best practices (Conley et al., 2012; Cora, &

Status and associated factors of gerontological nurse specialists’ core competency: a national cross-sectional study

“…This study is the first large-scale national study to investigate gerontological nurse specialists' core competency level in China. The results of the self-administered questionnaire showed that the core competency level of gerontological nurse specialists in China is at an aboveaverage level, which is slightly greater than our previous survey conducted in a province in western China [20].…”

“…This study is the first large-scale national study to investigate gerontological nurse specialists’ core competency level in China. The results of the self-administered questionnaire showed that the core competency level of gerontological nurse specialists in China is at an above-average level, which is slightly greater than our previous survey conducted in a province in western China [ 20 ]. The attitude subscale received the highest score among the three subscales, and the scores of the two dimensions it contains (i.e., professional self-identity and learning enthusiasm) ranked in the top three in all dimensions, indicating that gerontological nurse specialists engaged passionately in geriatric nursing work.…”

“…Nurse competency is important because it directly affects patients' safety and health outcomes as well as the quality and effectiveness of nursing services [4,5]; therefore, many studies are actively exploring the competency of nurses in different nursing specialties, in various jobs, and at various levels [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. Studies on gerontological nurse specialists' competency have also been conducted, and they mainly focus on exploring the core competency requirements and developing core competency frameworks or core competency assessment tools [3,[16][17][18][19]; meanwhile, a paucity of studies have explored the status of and factors influencing gerontological nurse specialists' core competency [20]. It is essential to evaluate nurses' level of competency and grasp the factors that potentially affect competency to allow nurses to selfreflect and provide valuable information for managers and educators to design continuing education programs and other measurements aiming to promote nurse competency [21,22].…”

Status and influencing factors of nursing and midwifery professionals' core competence‐ a cross sectional study

“…Core nursing competence is at the hearth of nursing education and plays a key role in ensuring high‐quality services (Chunlan et al, 2020). There is no consensus on the definition of it.…”