The Development of Competency Assessment for Urological Surgery Nurse in a Public University Hospital

Abstract

The objectives of this research were 1) to analyze the situation of urological surgery nurse competencies; 2) to develop an assessment form to evaluate the competency of urological surgery nurses at a public university hospital; and 3) to evaluate the appropriateness of the developed assessment form. In this research and development project, there were 2 study groups: 1) the group of key informants, purposively chosen through meeting the inclusion criteria, which consisted of 7 people, and 2) the practicing nurses, out of whom 42 who met the inclusion criteria were randomly chosen.  There were 3 sets of research instruments: 1) a semi-structured interview form; 2) an assessment form to evaluate the competency of urological surgery nurses, the items of which had content validity scores of .80 -1.00, a content reliability score of .95, a Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient of .98 and an Inter-rater Reliability score of .97; and 3) an assessment form to evaluate the appropriateness of the developed urological surgery nurse competency assessment form. Data were analyzed using content analysis and descriptive statistics. The results showed that 1) study of the situation revealed the following required competencies for urological surgery nurses (1) moral, ethical and legal competencies, (2) knowledge and skills in patient care, (3) communication and teamwork competencies, (4) professional and personal development, (5) use of nursing technology and innovations, and (6) consultation skills to support patients and family members. 2) The competency assessment form for urological surgery nurses that was developed based on the present situation and the context of the work unit consisted of 8 parts: (1) moral, ethical, legal and professional nursing competencies, (2) knowledge and skill competencies in surgical patient care, (3) prevention, rehabilitation and acceptance competencies for caring for surgery patients, (4) self-development competencies, (5) knowledge management and evidence-based practice competencies for developing nursing quality, (6) effective communication competencies,(7)teamwork and human relations competencies, and (8) systematic critical thinking competencies. Lastly, the tool was structured as a five-level rating scale with behavioral indicators, aligned with actual practice, and capable of appropriately reflecting nurses’ competency levels; 3) the items on the developed competency assessment form were evaluated as “extremely appropriate” for overall.