Effect of Internship Program on Self-Reported Clinical Competence among BSc Nursing Students in Selected Nursing Colleges at Mangaluru

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities, and they are the backbone of the health care team. In the early period, competency includes the assessment of personal qualities of a nurse such as values, skills, judgment, and attitude. Nursing students should be given adequate training during the study period to become clinically competent nurses and must be ready to compete with the dynamic world. Objective This study was conducted to find the effect of internship program on self-reported clinical competence of BSc nursing students. Methodology Pre-experimental design adopted with 124 fourth-year BSc nursing students selected using a simple random sampling technique. For assessing the clinical competence, the researchers found a study, where a standard clinical competence tool was developed and used. The self-reported clinical competence questionnaire consists of nursing professional behaviors, general performance, core nursing skills, and advanced nursing skills. Results The results of this study show that a total mean score of the level of clinical competency in the pretest was 86.2 ± 8.6 and lower compared with the posttest 208.5 ± 17.6. Majority of the students (73%) were advanced learners in the pretest and gained competence as experts (94%) in the posttest. One skilled learner found in the pretest promoted to the level of competent learner in the posttest. Conclusion Exposure to the clinical field and practice through an internship program can help student nurses to improve skills. From this study, the researchers found that the internship program has a great impact on improving clinical competence among nursing students.