INFLUENCE OF NURSING EDUCATION AND CLINICAL COMPETENCY ON THE MANAGEMENT OF MEDICAL AND SURGICAL EMERGENCIES
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Abstract
Background: Emergency departments represent one of the most demanding clinical environments, requiring nurses to manage complex medical and surgical emergencies with precision and efficiency. The relationship between nursing education, clinical competency, and emergency management performance remains incompletely understood, particularly in distinguishing between medical and surgical emergency contexts.
Objective: This study examined the influence of nursing education levels and clinical competency on the management of medical and surgical emergencies among registered nurses working in emergency care settings.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey design was employed with 312 registered nurses from eight acute care hospitals. Data were collected using the Nurse Professional Competence Scale and the Emergency Management Performance Assessment. Multiple regression analysis and one-way ANOVA were used to examine relationships between education, competency, and emergency management outcomes.
Results: Higher education levels were significantly associated with greater clinical competency scores across all five domains (p < 0.001). Nurses with Master's degrees demonstrated significantly higher emergency management scores compared to those with Diploma-level education (p < 0.001). Overall clinical competency emerged as the strongest predictor of emergency management performance (beta = 0.526,p < 0.001), explaining 42.4% of the variance. The relationship between competency and surgical emergency management (r = 0.57) was stronger than for medical emergencies (r = 0.50).
Conclusion: Nursing education and clinical competency significantly influence emergency management performance, particularly for surgical emergencies. Healthcare organizations should prioritize competency-based education and continuing professional development to enhance emergency care outcomes.
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