How Likely Is It for a Nurse Student to Become a Competent Nurse? A Protocol for Scale Development and Validation Using a Mixed Methods Study

Abstract

Summary The aim of the paper was to develop and validate a scale for estimating the likelihood of a nurse student to become a competent nurse. Admitting students to nursing schools without assessing their personal characteristics has led to serious consequences, including low quality of nursing care. Early detection of students who are at risk of attrition or becoming non-competent nurses can save the time, money, and energy devoted to educating and training the future nurses. A mixed methods design will be employed. Using literature review and interviews with nurse students, clinical nurses, nurse experts, and nurse managers during the first qualitative phase, we will build a comprehensive item pool that has a focus on nurse students’ personal characteristics. To increase the trustworthiness of interview findings, we will distinguish competent versus incompetent nurses by measuring their competence levels. In the second quantitative phase, the Nurse Competence Predicting Scale will be developed and tested for psychometric properties. We believe that Nurse Competence Predicting Scale may help in early identification of nurse students who are at risk of not acquiring expected nurse competencies on graduation or joining the workforce. In such cases, educational managers may take timely remedial interventions.

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