Development of structured clinical skill assessment by integrating soft skill elements for undergraduate nursing programme [EMBARGOED]

Abstract

Soft skills have become requisite in today's healthcare delivery system to resuscitate the seemingly dying nursing care quality. Soft skills are referred to as the art of nursing in the nursing profession. Hence, acquiring soft skills competencies is becoming increasingly important for nurses in today's sophisticated world. However, employers continue reporting that graduate nurses lack relevant soft skills to function in their positions.

Objective: This study aimed to develop structured clinical skill assessment by integrating soft skills elements for the undergraduate nursing programme.

Method: A convergent parallel mixed method was used. This study has carried out in four phases: phase I (development of the clinical skill analysis index (CSAI) tools), phase II (quantitative and qualitative study), phase III (development of the soft skills framework for clinical skills assessment) and phase IV (designing the structured clinical skill assessment by integrating soft skill elements).

Findings: Eight CSAI tools were developed in Phase I. The content validity of CSAI tool items ranged from 3.8 to 4, and the overall scale of the content validity index (CVI) obtained 0.96 in the first stage and 1 in the second stage validation study. The quantitative study was conducted in phase II using the developed CSAI tools. A total of 237 data were collected from 5 higher learning institutions and analyzed descriptively. Most of the collected data fall under the basic nursing procedure (32.47 %). The overall quantitative finding showed that communication skills (98.7%) are present, and other soft skills are not clearly defined. Furthermore, a qualitative study using an in-depth interview method was carried out in Phase II, and four main themes were derived; Awareness and involvement, Factors influencing on implementation of soft skills in the structured clinical skills assessment, Academic Responsibility, and Suggestions to overcome barriers. In phase III, the soft skills framework for clinical skills assessment was developed, while the structured clinical skills assessment by integrating soft skills elements was designed in phase IV.

Implication:This study's findings concur with and provide implications for nursing education, practice, and professional development.For nursing education, the framework developed, and the structured clinical skills assessments will help nursing academics assess soft skills elements in the structured clinical skills assessments.For nursing practice, adequate soft skills enable nurses to cope efficiently in fast-paced clinical settings. Lastly, the findings also can imply for the nursing professional body to revise its competency guidelines/policies for nursing students and graduate nurses.

Conclusion: The results indicated that soft skills assessment in structured clinical skills assessments is still limited. More support should be provided through training, the availability of necessary resources and improved planning for nursing academics.