Nurse Educators' Background, Education, and Experience in Digital Competence Profiles: A Descriptive Comparative...

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Digital Competence
• Educational Technology

Background:

• Digital competence is crucial for nurse educators to effectively integrate technology into teaching.
• Understanding nurse educators' digital competence profiles is essential for targeted professional development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and compare digital competence profiles of nurse educators across four European countries.
• To examine background variables associated with these profiles.
• To assess self-assessed digital competence levels.

Main Methods:

• A descriptive comparative cross-sectional study involving 263 nurse educators from Finland, Malta, Slovakia, and Spain.
• Partitioning around medoids (PAM) clustering was used to define competence groups.
• Descriptive and inferential statistics analyzed background variable associations.

Main Results:

• Two digital competence profiles were identified: high and moderate.
• The high competence profile was associated with more pedagogical studies and teaching experience.
• Lowest competence was observed in the safe and responsible use of technology, including copyright laws.

Conclusions:

• Nurse educators require international continuing professional development in digital competence.
• Training should emphasize pedagogical approaches for technology utilization.
• Enhancing competence in safe and responsible technology use is critical for nursing education organizations.