Nursing Student's Clinical Competency after Experiencing Preceptorship Program

Professional competency is associated with performance and increases patients’ general health. On the other hand, decrease in the level of competency in nursing is one of the major concerns. Thus, clinical competence has to be examined in nursing students. This study aimed to assess nursing students’ clinical competency and its related factors after experiencing the preceptorship program.
This cross-sectional study was conducted on 114 nursing students who had experienced preceptorship program. The data were collected using the Competency Inventory of Nursing Students. Then, the data were entered into the SPSS statistical software, version 20 and were analyzed using t-test and ANOVA.
The nursing students’ mean score of competency was 240.48±39.56 after experiencing the preceptorship program. In addition, the mean score of each item was 5.46±0.89. Moreover, the nursing students’ clinical competency was associated with age, location of apprenticeship/internship with preceptor, number of absences during the course, willingness to continue one’s education, and interest in nursing (P This study showed that the nursing students’ clinical competency was high after experiencing the preceptorship program. Therefore, this program is recommended to enhance nursing students’ competency.