Perceptions of Nursing Competence among New Graduate Nurses in Boromarajonani College of Nursing Buddhachinaraj

Abstract

This survey research aimed to examine the perceptions of nursing competence of newly graduated nurses in Boromarajonani College of Nursing Buddhachinaraj by using nursing competence framework of Thailand Nursing and Midwifery Council. The samples comprised of 142 new nurses who graduated in 2020 academic year. The self-report questionnaire was used for data collection, including demographic data form and the Professional Nurse’s Competence Questionnaire. This questionnaire consisted of 8 domains: 1) ethics, code of conduct and law, 2) nursing and midwife practice, 3) professional characteristics of nursing, 4) leadership, management and quality improvement, 5) academic and research skills, 6) communication and relationship, 7) information technology and 8) social skills.  The questionnaire was validated by three experts and the reliability, using Cronbach’s alpha was 0.96. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze data.

The results of this study showed that new graduates perceived themselves as high competences (Mean = 4.32 S.D =0.35). The level of nursing competence of each domain was also at a high level which the domain of ethics, code of conduct, and law was the highest score (Mean = 4.41, SD=0.44), followed by the domain of professional characteristics of nursing (Mean=4.40, SD=0.45) whereas the information technology domain was the lowest score (Mean=4.26, SD=0.50), followed by the domain of leadership, management and quality improvement (Mean=4.29, SD=0.43).

The results are useful for nursing curriculum and pedagogy development to strengthen nursing students’ performance, according to professional requirements. Moreover, these can be used as an agreement between educational institutions and employers of the nurses in clinics about the training program for new graduated nurses to get better the nursing competence, especially the performance of information technology and management