A Valid and Reliable Tool to Assess Nursing Professional Competences: The Nursing Professional Competence Scale

Objective: Nursing competence is a basic skill to fulfill the professional roles and responsibilities. Therefore, there is a need for studies to develop the valid and reliable measurement tools to identify the professional competences and competence levels expected from the nurses and evaluate them in the regular intervals. This study aims to develop a valid and reliable tool that could be used to assess the professional competence of the nurses. Methods: The study has a methodological design. The population of this study included 3,133 nurses who worked at three training and research hospitals, one university hospital, and one private hospital in the Istanbul, and its sample included 902 nurses. The study used a Nurse Information Form and Nursing Professional Competence Scale Draft Form. Results: The item-total score correlations ranged from 0.56-0.90. In the exploratory factor analysis, the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin value was calculated as 0.970, and the Bartlett's test of Sphericity result was also significant [x(2) (2211)=43301.45; p<0.01]. The Cronbach's alpha of the Nursing Professional Competence scale was calculated as 0.98. Conclusion: The study found that the Nursing Professional Competence scale is a valid and reliable tool to use. The scale developed in this context could be used in the researches to determine the professional competences of the nurses, to identify the variables affecting the professional competences of nurses, and to examine the effects of nursing education programs on professional competences of the nurses.