14Background 15 New nurses need a certain period of time to adapt to the organization due to a lack of clinical 16 competence, and also immaturity in social skill. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects 17 of new nurses' clinical competence on career adaptation in order to use the results as basic information 18 for developing education programs to improve their adaptability in clinical practice. 19 20 Method 21 This study employed a descriptive survey to investigate the clinical competence and the career 22 adaptability of new nurses working in a general hospital. The study subjects were 61 new nurses with 23 less than one year of work experience and data was collected from June, 2018 to July, 2019. Data was 24 analyzed using frequency analysis, descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation 25 coefficients, and multiple regression analysis.26 27
Results
28On average, the study subjects have worked for 11.33±1.51 months. In this study, the average clinical 29 competence of new nurses was 2.21±0.61, and career adaptability was 3.00±0.39. The clinical 30 competence of new nurses was positively correlated with career adaptability (r=.453, p<.001). Among 31 the sub-categories of clinical competence, developing professional and legal implementation were 32 found to affect career adaptability (t=2.24, p=.030). 33 34 Conclusion 35The clinical competence of the new nurses was shown to positively affect their career adaptability, and 36 it was confirmed that developing professional and legal implementation in the subcategories of clinical 37 competence affected the career adaptability of the new nurses. Thus, it is necessary to establish a 3 38 program that provides support for new nurses to enable them to build professional identities that they 39 can be proud of. 40 41 Introduction 58 With the recent advances in medical technology and the improvement of people's living and 59 educational standards, interest in quality medical services, as well as demand for high quality 60 nursing care, have increased. Accordingly, nurses must acquire sufficient medical knowledge 61 and competent skills [1]. However, new nurses are facing many challenges in the fast-paced 62 hospital environment while also experiencing high stress and maladjustment [2]. 63 New nurses are those who have graduated from a nursing college in Korea and obtained a 64 nurse's license with working experience of less than 12 months after being employed in a 65 medical institution [3]. New nurses face a lot of stress in their clinical careers after their first 66 year of graduation as they have to deal with the gap between high expectations and reality in 67 the following aspects: their practical skills; demand for knowledge and skills required for 68 nursing work; three-shift working environment; increased responsibility for nursing behavior; 69 subtle interpersonal relationships with colleagues; and formation of interpersonal relationships 70 with patients and caregivers [4, 5]. In addition, new nurses need a certain period o...