Operating theatre nurses’ perceptions of competence: a focus group study

Operating theatre nurses' perceptions of competence: a focus group study. Aim. This paper is a report of a study exploring nurses' perceptions of the components of competence in the operating theatre. Background. Competency Standards for operating theatre practice are used in some countries to guide clinical and professional behaviours. The need for competence assessment has been enshrined, but the conceptualization and agreement about what signifies competence in Operating Theatre has been lacking. Methods. Three focus groups were conducted with 27 operating theatre nurses in three major metropolitan hospitals in Queensland, Australia. Interviews were audio taped and field notes were taken. Data were collected during 2008. Thematic analysis was performed. Findings. From the analysis of the textual data, three themes were identified: 'coalescence of theoretical, practical, situational and aesthetic knowledge within a technocratic environment'; 'the importance of highly developed communication skills among teams of divergent personalities and situations'; and 'managing and coordinating the flow of the list'. Conclusion. These findings have identified that competence in respect to components of knowledge, teamwork and communication, and the ability to coordinate and manage are important and should be incorporated in operating theatre Competency Standards. Additionally, findings may assist in the development of an instrument to measure operating nurses' perceived competence

Consensus on an Australian Nurse practitioner specialty framework using Delphi methodology: results from the CLLEVER

Aim: The aim of this study was to achieve profession-wide consensus on an Australian nurse practitioner specialty framework. Background: Since its introduction in 1998, the Australian nurse practitioner profession has grown to over 1300 endorsed practitioners, representing over 50 different specialties. To complement better a generalist learning and teaching framework with specialist clinical education, prior research proposed a broad framework of Australian nurse practitioner specialty areas termed metaspecialties. Design: This study employed an online three-round modified Delphi method. Method: Recruitment using purposive sampling and snowballing techniques identified an eligible sample from a population of nurse practitioners with at least 12months' postendorsement experience (n=966). Data were collected using online survey software from September 2014-January 2015 and analysed using descriptive statistics and content analysis. The Content Validity Index and McNemar's Test for Change were used to determine consensus on the nurse practitioner metaspecialties. Results: One-fifth of the total eligible population completed the study. Participants achieved high consensus on four metaspecialties, including: Emergency and acute care, primary health care, child and family health care and mental health care. Two metaspecialties did not achieve consensus and require further investigation. Conclusion: A large sample of nurse practitioners achieved consensus on an Australian metaspecialty framework, increasing the likelihood of widespread acceptance across the profession. This technique may be appropriate for use in jurisdictions with smaller populations of nurse practitioners. Ongoing research is needed to re-evaluate the metaspecialties as the profession grows