Factors Affecting the Clinical Competency of Nursing Students in Pediatric Nursing Clinical Practice

Background/Objectives: This study aims to investigate the effects of clinical training stress and clinical training satisfaction on clinical competency during pediatric nursing training in nursing students.

Methods/Statistical Analysis: Ninety-one nursing students participated in this study, and data were collected from May 29 to November 10, 2017. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 22.0.

Findings: This study found that clinical competency had a significant negative correlation with clinical training stress (r = −.356, p < .001) and a significant positive correlation with clinical training satisfaction (r = .524, p < .001). Clinical training satisfaction (β = .439, p < .001) and conflict with pediatric patients, a component of clinical training stress (β = −.226, p = .019), were identified as factors having significant effects on clinical competency during pediatric nursing clinical training.

Improvements/Applications: It is important to plan clinical training while considering the factors affecting it to enhance nursing students’ clinical competency during pediatric nursing clinical training.