Perceived Level of Clinical Competency Among Graduate Nursing Students in Eastern University, Sri Lanka: A Comparative Study Between Male and Female Students

Abstract

Background: The contemporary health professional education greatly emphasizes on competency based education. Clinical skill is an essential competency of Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Nursing programme. Clinical competencies of nursing students should be assessed before graduation, and it is important to shorten their length of orientation to work. Eastern University, Sri Lanka (EUSL) is one of the national higher educational institutes that provides graduate nursing education in Sri Lanka. At present, four batches have graduated from EUSL. However, the nursing students' clinical competencies have not been assessed yet. Aim: to assess the nursing students' clinical competency and its gender difference at EUSL. Methodology: This descriptive study was conducted in 2017 with the use of clinical competency questionnaire (CCQ). The CCQ incorporated nursing clinical competencies are in three forms as General Nursing Skill, Core Nursing Skill and Advanced Nursing Skills. Final year nursing students (fifth batch) participated in this study. The scores of CCQ statements were converted into continuous variables and summarized as means. The t-test was used to compare the students’ clinical competency with the gender. Result: The overall CCQ score was 4.10. It indicated that the students are having a positive level of confidence in their clinical competency. Meanwhile, the advance nursing skill is identified as the weakest area. Furthermore, the male nursing students perceived high competency in Advanced & Core Nursing Skill. Anyhow, the overall mean CCQ score is not statistically varied with gender. In future, research studies are needed to assess the nursing students' clinical competency by the feedback of mentors, clinical instructors, colleague and supervisors.