Core competencies for nurses in Chinese intensive care units: a cross-sectional study

Core competencies of intensive care unit (ICU) nurses were defined as the essential capability to influence patient safety and interdisciplinary collaboration; however, there has been no research conducted that relates to core competencies of ICU nurses at Chinese tertiary-A hospitals in Shanghai.

To investigate the current state of core competencies and the factors that influence this key capability in ICU nurses in Chinese tertiary-A hospitals.

This was a multicentre, cross-sectional study.

A convenient sampling method was used to investigate 451 ICU nurses at five tertiary-A hospitals in Shanghai. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaires.

The core competencies of ICU nurses were above average, and the scores of seven dimensions, ranked from first to last, were medical ethics, clinical practice, nurse-nurse co-operation, assessment and decision-making, personal and professional development, teaching and research and nurse-physician co-operation. Multivariate linear regression analysis showed that the factors exerting an influence on the core competencies of ICU nurses were title, role incumbent and ICU department.

This study showed an above-average level of core competencies among ICU nurses in tertiary-A hospitals in Shanghai; however, competencies related to nurse-physician co-operation and the translation of research into practice were underdeveloped.

Nursing managers should implement targeted interventions to improve nurse-physician co-operation and translate research into practice competencies, such as high-fidelity simulation, inter-professional education, scientific research training and innovative skills tutorials. Moreover, this study demonstrated the influencing factors that can be used to improve core competences of ICU nurses.