Relationship among upgrades in academic qualifications, practice accreditations, self‐efficacy, outcome expectations and nurses' career interest

Professional engagement: Connecting self-efficacy to actual turnover among hospital nurses

AIMS

To examine how nurses' self-efficacy impacts professional engagement (professional opportunities exploration and workplace improvement participation), nurses' turnover intention and further on actual turnover.

BACKGROUND

The problem of nursing shortage has become a common global issue. Nurses' self-efficacy could reduce nurses' turnover intention. However, whether professional engagement could connect nurses' self-efficacy and their actual turnover remains unknown.

DESIGN

This study adopts a three-wave follow-up design.

METHODS

This study uses proportionate random sampling to survey nurses in a large medical centre in Taiwan. Totally, 417 participants were enrolled from December 2021 to January 2022 (first wave) and followed up from February 2022 to March 2022 (second wave). The data of nurses' actual turnover (or not) were traced in May 2022 (third wave). STROBE statement was chosen as the EQUATOR checklist.

RESULTS

Self-efficacy was positively linked to outcome expectation, which is positively linked to professional opportunities exploration. Self-efficacy was positively linked to career interest and workplace improvement participation. Professional engagement was negatively linked to nurses' intention to leave the target hospital, which was positively linked to actual turnover.

CONCLUSION

This study uniquely finds that professional engagement is the key to the mechanism underlying the influence of nurse' self-efficacy on their actual turnover.

IMPACT

Our findings impact nursing management that professional engagement is as well important as nurses' self-efficacy, with an aim to maintain the professional nursing workforce.

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION

Nurses complete the questionnaires, return them to the investigators and permit investigators to check their personnel data.

Educators' ability to use concept mapping as a tool to facilitate meaningful learning

Background: Meaningful learning is enhanced when concepts are visually differentiated, linked to or nested under other concepts, resulting in integrative reconciliation of knowledge and understanding. Competence in using concept mapping as a strategy to support students towards meaningful learning, is essential.Aim: The aim of the study was to describe the nature of the concept maps drawn by educators after a symposium on concept maps to transfer educational knowledge to the classroom.Design: A quantitative descriptive cross-sectional design was used to explore the nature of concept maps drawn by educators after having attended a workshop on concept mapping.Methods: The authors developed a checklist based on the principles of a good concept map to assess and describe to what extent the concept maps drawn by the participants, aligned with general principles on creating a concept map appropriate to enhance meaningful learning. During a symposium, participants were introduced to the advantages, principles and requirements for concept mapping. Sixty-two (62; 100%) participants drew concept maps. Using a checklist based on the principles of good concept mapping, we assessed concept maps from 22 (35.4%) volunteers to explore the extent to which the concept maps aligned with general principles necessary to enhance meaningful learning.Results: Criteria for a good concept map include the graphical presentation and establishing relationships between these concepts. The network-style concept map was used by the majority (68%) of the participants. Only 9% used the spoke concept map. The graphical presentation of concepts and the relationships between these was limited. Only 41% of the maps were understandable, while 36% made sense in the context of the chosen topic.Conclusions: Well-designed concept maps can add value to and improve educator teaching and student learning. Not all educators in this study understood what a good concept map is. Visualisation offered by concept maps assist in recognising how new knowledge can link with, and build on, existing knowledge.

Impact of professional commitment on professional capability improvement and care quality dimensions: A multi-wave study

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

To examine how the three dimensions of professional commitment impact professional capabilities improvement and five key dimensions of care quality.

BACKGROUND

While professional commitment is known to retain nurses, we do not know how its three dimensions-affective, continuance and normative commitment-formulate five care quality dimensions: assurance, reliability, responsiveness, empathy and tangibles.

DESIGN

We used a three-wave, follow-up design to follow a sample of nurse participants.

METHODS

We collected responses from 430 nurses who worked for a medical centre in Northern Taiwan during 2017-2019. Most (78.9%) of the respondents had an age between 20-40 years. We used Professional Commitment Scale of Meyer et al. (Journal of Applied Psychology, 1993, 78, 538) and Care Quality Scale of Teng et al. (Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 2010, 41, 301). STROBE statement was chosen as EQUATOR checklist.

RESULTS

We found that affective professional commitment is positively related to intention to improve professional capabilities, action to improve professional capabilities and thus to four dimensions of care quality: assurance, reliability, responsiveness and empathy.

CONCLUSIONS

Our model explains how three key dimensions of professional commitment contribute to care quality. Our findings support the link between action to improve professional capabilities and dimensions of care quality.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

Nursing managers can inform nurses of positive patient feedback, thus enhancing nurses' affective professional commitment, which would likely motivate their devotion to upgrading their professional capabilities, thus further contributing to the quality of the care they provide.