The importance of competence in the professional work of nurses

Aim
The aim of our study was to determine the importance of social, personal and organizational competences in the professional work of the surveyed nurses.

Material and methods
The research was conducted in the period from October 2022 to January 2023 to a group of 150 respondents working as a nurse/nurses at various job positions in a district hospital in Poland. The research tool was the Self-Assessment Questionnaire for Competent Action (KSKD), which consisted of three questions regarding sociodemographic data and 90 statements describing how to behave at work. The analysis was performed using the Chi-square test for independence of variables. The strength of the relationship was determined using the coefficients, i.e. Phi and Kramer's V. When the variables were ordinal, the following coefficients were used: Kendall's Tau-b and Kendall's Tau-c. The statistical hypotheses were verified at the significance level of p≤0,05.

Results
Gender does not affect the assessment of one's social competence, but it does affect the assessment of one's competence in adapting to change. Older nurses rated their possessed competencies highest in striving for results and in planning and organizing. In the area of coping with stress, the nurses surveyed between the ages of 31 and 40 rate their competencies highest.

Conclusions
The results of the presented research allow us to assume that the education and professional development of nurses plays an important role in the assessment of nursing competence. Achieving a high level of competence among nurses has a positive impact on the quality of care in healthcare facilities.