Evaluating nursing competence with the Nurse Competence Scale from an ontological and contextual point of view: An integrative literature review
Gun‐Britt Lejonqvist, Satu Kajander‐Unkuri
Abstract
Evaluating nursing competence is challenging and among many instruments the Nurse Competence Scale is one of the most used. This integrated literature review aimed to describe how ontological and contextual nursing competence becomes evident in evaluations done with it and the value of using it for professional development in nursing. The starting point was a former systematic review and additional searches were carried out using electronic databases with keywords and Boolean operators. The search followed the PRISMA search strategy and the articles were appraised against the JBI Critical Appraisal Checklist. Thirty-four original research articles published between January 2004 and April 2020 were included. The data were displayed and analyzed descriptively. Results showed that the Nurse Competence Scale covers both ontological and contextual competence, that the competence profiles vary in different cultures, cohorts and contexts, but that it is suitable for evaluating and following up competence development in nursing.