RESEARCH ARTICLE
Describing Nurses’ Competence in Primary Nursing Care Model: A Cross-sectional Study Conducted in an Italian Teaching Hospital
Antonello Cocchieri1, *
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2023Volume: 17
E-location ID: e187443462301300
Publisher ID: e187443462301300
DOI: 10.2174/18744346-v17-e230217-2022-165
Article History:
Received Date: 03/10/2022Revision Received Date: 14/01/2023
Acceptance Date: 18/01/2023
Electronic publication date: 07/03/2023
Collection year: 2023
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Introduction:
Primary Nursing (PN) is a patient-focused nursing model that improves the quality of care. It has been defined over the years as a model to develop nurses’ personal knowledge, but the relationship between different nursing care models and nurses’ competence or experience still requires study.
Objectives:
The study aimed to describe nurses’ perceptions of their competence in the primary nursing care model and to identify sociodemographic and organisational predictors of nurses’ competence.
Methods:
A cross-sectional design was used to recruit nurses from wards using the PN care model and wards in which a team nursing care model was applied. A convenience sample of 142 nurses completed a self-administered questionnaire composed of a sociodemographic survey and the Nurse Competence Scale (NCS). Nurses’ age, gender, education degree, years as a registered nurse, months as a registered nurse under the specific nursing model, and type of employment contract were tested as potential independent predictors of nurses’ competence.
Results:
The PN nurses reported a better perception of their competence in all seven NCS categories. Independent predictors of a high level of competence in managing situations were an open-ended employment contract, greater work experience, working in a PN care model, and male gender. Predictors of a high level of competence in ensuring quality were greater work experience and working in a PN care model. Finally, an open-ended employment contract and working in a PN care model were both associated with a higher level of helping role, teaching–coaching, diagnostic functions, therapeutic interventions, and work role. The variables explained from 10% to 26% of the variance in all categories.
Conclusion:
PN model was found to be significantly positively correlated with nursing competence development. Advanced skills are involved in practising a personalized nursing care plan.
