Entry-level skill competency: A comparison of head nurses’ expectations and new graduates’ perceptions

The purpose of this study was to compare the differences between head nurses' expectations and new graduates' perceptions of the entry-level skill competency. Subjects included 147 new graduates and 126 head nurses from four schools of nursing and their affiliated medical centers located in northern, central and southern Taiwan. The results showed that among 213 skills, 153 skills were reported by over 60% of head nurses to be performed precisely under clinical settings. In contrast to the graduates' perceptions, over 60% of the graduates had confidence to perform only 82 skills precisely. The percent age of head nurses' expectation and the perception of the graduates in skills that were reported to be performed precisely in clinical situations were significantly differenct in 145 skills (68%. For seventy-six skill items there was congruence between the percentage of head nurses' expectations and new graduates' perceptions. The percentage of the head nurses' expectation were higher than the graduates' perception in 55 skills. On the other hand, for 14 skills the percentage of graduates who perceived them selves as being able to perform them precisely was significantly higher than the percentage of head nurses. The results can be applied to improve nursing skills' teaching and students' pre-job preparation.