Predictors of Clinical Performance Among Emergency Nurses: A Cross-Sectional Study

Poor nursing performance is considered a threat to patient safety, affecting the quality of care provided and ultimately impacting patient outcomes.

The main aim of this study was to identify the predictors of nursing performance.

A cross-sectional predictive design was used. A convenient sampling technique was used to recruit 251 emergency nurses in three health sectors. They were assessed using the secondary traumatic stress scale and the nursing performance scale. Data were collected between June and August 2022.

Nurses experienced severe levels of secondary traumatic stress (M = 57.9, SD = 14.94). The nursing performance level was below average (M = 27.48, SD = 9.36), and the mental performance subscale received the lowest rating (M = 5.82, SD = 2.69). There was a strong negative association between the secondary traumatic stress total score and the total score of nursing performance (r = -.77). Additionally, factors such as high body mass index, smoking, the presence of chronic diseases, working overtime, and high levels of secondary traumatic stress were identified as significant predictors of nursing performance.

It is recommended that emergency nurses be provided with treatment programs and interventions to reduce their secondary traumatic stress to improve their performance, thereby ensuring high-quality patient care.