Improving Clinical Nurses’ Competency and Nursing Care Using the Research Process Model
Article Category: research-article
Data publikacji: 29 paź 2021
Zakres stron: 15 - 17
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21307/ajon-2021-005
© 2021 Nobuko Okubo et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Background
Clinical nurses working in an acute neurosurgery ward and researchers conducted research using the research process model with the aim to improve nursing competency, nursing autonomy, work motivation, ethics, and actual nursing care content. The research clarified: (a) how clinical nurses in the neurosurgical ward changed and the process of improving nursing competence; (b) changes regarding clinical nurses’ patient care autonomy, work motivation, and ethics; (c) changes in nursing care (rate of medical restraint, rate of manual removal of faeces, etc.) and (d) changes in patients’ and families’ degree of nursing care satisfaction.
Methods
Participants were a purposive sample of 12 (50%) ward nurses from a neurosurgery ward in a 500-bed hospital that had emergency care. Qualitative and quantitative data were from descriptions of the research process model and interviews, with the use of professional autonomy scale, work motivation scale, ethical behaviour scale, implementation rates of medical restraints and manual removal of faeces to inpatients, and by changes in nursing care and patient satisfaction. Data were collected before, during and at the completion of research. Analyses for quantitative data was done by unpaired t-test and ANOVA, and thematic analysis for qualitative data. Significance was set at (p < 0.05).
Results
Professional autonomy scores gradually increased after the start of research and were significantly higher at the midpoint. The ethical behaviour scores gradually increased from the starting point, but there was no significant difference. The work motivation scores gradually increased and had significantly increased at the end of the study period compared to the starting point. The rate of medical restraints on patients significantly decreased in the end compared to the beginning, while the rate of manual removal of faeces significantly decreased at the midpoint and in the end compared to the starting point. Families complained about nurses’ response and care during the three-year period prior to the start of the research, but a year after the start of this research, no complaints were observed. The nurses improved nursing competence from Stage 1 : realization of individual nursing care anew; Stage 2: collaborating with various medical professionals; Stage 3: pursuit of specialized nursing; and Stage 4: promote competence of leadership and team building ability for all nurses. The research process model in this study improved nursing competency of the nurses participating in the study.
Conclusion
Going through the four stages, the clinical nurses working in the acute neurosurgery ward were able to improve their actual nursing care and increased their nursing competency.