Professional Experience Placement

This study by Gardulf et al (2015) used the nurse professional competence scale to investigate self-reported competence among nursing students at graduation and were related the findings to background factors. The authors discuss the reasons for embarking on the study which included previous studies found low professional competence contributes to increased mortality in patients treated in hospitals. The authors also cited a lack of opportunities for professional competence development was identified as factor that negatively influences the turnover rate of RNs. Additionally, there is no agreed international definition of  professional competence. The WHO describes “nurses’ professional competence” as a framework of skills reflecting knowledge, attitudes and psycho-social and psycho-motor elements”.

There were 1086 respondents from 11 higher education institutions in Sweden that completed the Nurse Professional Competence (NPC) scale. Likert scales were used and demographic information was also collected. The authors reported that respondents reported their competence as high or very high and may decrease once they reach the workforce. Respondents rated themselves to be competent in value-based nursing care; medical and technical care and documentation and information technology. The lowest scores were found for education and supervision of staff and students. The authors found there were several  background factors that influenced self-reported competence and these included paid work experience in healthcare alongside the BSN programme and those that worked more than 20 hours per week.  These findings have implications for clinical supervision because there is inference that students are not equipped to supervise other staff or students at graduation and respondents indicated the more they were exposed to the clinical environment the more confident they felt. Therefore new graduates will need support to learn to how to supervise students and staff.  Furthermore students who have not been employed within healthcare during their university programme may feel less confident that those who have had additional workplace experience.

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