Construction of a specialized nurse training Indicator system for cardiac intensive care unit using the Delphi method

This study aims to establish a standardized training indicator system for cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU) specialized nurses based on competency theory, so as to provide practical guidance for improving their core competencies and guaranteeing high-quality care for critically ill patients.

The training indicator system was developed through literature review, semi-structured qualitative interviews and Delphi method. Literature review was conducted to extract competency dimensions and indicators covering professional knowledge, professional skills, professional competence and practical competence; semi-structured qualitative interviews with clinical and educational specialists were further carried out to develop an initial training indicator system with 4 primary, 19 secondary and 60 tertiary indicators. Followed by two rounds of Delphi consultation, 23 experts specializing in CICU Medicine, CICU nursing management, CICU clinical nursing, and nursing education were invited to participate. Indicators were retained when importance score >3.50 and coefficient of variation <0.25. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to determine the weights of indicators at different levels.

Both two rounds of expert surveys achieved a 100% response rate, with expert authority coefficients of 0.884 and 0.894, respectively. The Kendall's ranged from 0.241 to 0.247 (p < 0.001), and the coefficient of variation ranged from 0.070 to 0.131. The final version of the training indicator system includes 4 first-level indicators, 19 secondary-level indicators, and 63 tertiary-level indicators. All indicators obtained importance scores above 4.47 with reasonable weight distribution.

This competency-oriented CICU specialized nurse training indicator system possesses favorable scientificity and operability, and can serve as a reference for standardized professional development.