Bachelor nursing competencies to care for children in hospital and home settings: A Delphi study

Caring for children from birth to adulthood requires extensive knowledge and skills specific to that population. In Switzerland, bachelor's nursing degree programs focus primarily on generalist competencies and may be insufficient for registered nurses to provide appropriate and safe care to sick children and their families.

This study aimed to identify the competencies required for generalist nurses to care for children and their families in hospital and home-care settings.

A multicentered descriptive study was used.

Registered nurses' experts in their respective pediatric field were recruited via a regional network for pediatric nursing education in the French and Italian speaking part of Switzerland.

A 3-round Delphi e-survey was used to develop a list of competencies.

Round 1 consisted of mapping 23 competencies clustered in seven domains, from four competency models by a panel of eight experts. Consensus was reached in Round 2 and 3, by 129 and 132 participants, respectively. After Round 3, all 23 competencies were rated expected or very much expected. The seven domains of competencies identified as most important were "Advocacy and Moral Agency" (cum. mean: 4,5), "Diversity Families Responsiveness" (cum. mean: 4,5), Collaboration (cum. mean: 4,4), Caring Practices (cum. mean: 4,4), Clinical Judgment and Inquiry (cum. mean: 4,4), Facilitating Learning (cum. mean: 4,3) and System Thinking (cum. mean: 4,2).

The comprehensive list of 23 competencies for nurses to care for sick children and their families in hospital and community settings, provides a solid base to review and benchmark existing nursing under-graduate program in Switzerland and beyond.