Professional Competence in Nursing: A Hybrid Concept Analysis

Nurses, as the largest group providing health care services, play a critical role in the continuity of care and respond to services commensurate with their competence. Professional competence in nursing is a complex and ambiguous concept and needs the redefinition of competence and development of its definition and concept. In this study, we aimed to conceptually analyze professional competence in nursing. In this study, a hybrid concept analysis was used. In the literature review phase, the concept of ‘competence’ was investigated through valid databases limited to 2000 - 2018 and the participants’ experiences also appeared in the fieldwork phase. In the fieldwork phase, the participants revealed some aspects of professional competence in nursing, which were not well-addressed in the literature. Finally, the comprehensive definition of professional competence in nursing was presented after integrating the findings obtained in these two phases. According to the findings, professional competence in nursing is a combined, complex, multidimensional, and context-dependent concept, and consists of different domains. Based on the analysis results of the fieldwork phase, this concept was classified into 16 domains and the participants largely contributed to the provision of a comprehensive definition based on the definitions of professional competence presented in the literature. Based on the domains of professional competence in nursing obtained from this study, an appropriate instrument can be developed to assess professional competence in nursing for students and nurses.