Exploring variations in IPC competencies: a cross-sectional study among healthcare professionals in Northwest China.

BACKGROUND: This cross-sectional study investigates infection prevention and control (IPC) competencies among healthcare professionals in northwest China, examining the influence of demographic factors, job titles, education, work experience, and hospital levels. METHODS: Data from 874 respondents across 47 hospitals were collected through surveys assessing 16 major IPC domains. Statistical analyses, including Mann-Whitney tests, were employed to compare competencies across variables. RESULTS: Significant differences were identified based on gender, job titles, education, work experience, and hospital levels. Females demonstrated higher IPC competencies, while senior positions exhibited superior performance. Higher educational attainment and prolonged work experience positively correlated with enhanced competencies. Variances across hospital levels underscored context-specific competencies. CONCLUSION: Demographic factors and professional variables significantly shape IPC competencies. Tailored training, considering gender differences and job roles, is crucial. Higher education and prolonged work experience positively impact proficiency. Context-specific interventions are essential for diverse hospital settings, informing strategies to enhance IPC skills and mitigate healthcare-associated infections effectively.

Mapping Public Health Nursing competencies: A comparative document analysis of competency frameworks and practice standards in the USA and Ireland.

The Public Health Nursing discipline plays a crucial role in promoting sustainable health services. The establishment of competency frameworks and practice standards pertaining to Public Health Nursing has emerged as a cornerstone for guiding practice, education, and research. This study aimed to identify contemporary Public Health Nursing competency frameworks and practice standards and establish a robust list of competency domains. This will inform a subsequent phase of this project that will conduct a review of recent scholarly literature to discern prevailing research trends and delineate strategic directives and research priorities for the discipline. A systematic search of three databases and a grey literature search was undertaken by incorporating keywords to identify existing Public Health Nursing-specific competency frameworks and practice standards. Through screening and selection based on our inclusion criteria, three documents were analyzed. A comprehensive document analysis was conducted to generate a unified domain list and associated descriptors. Three competency-based frameworks and practice standards emanating from two countries, the United States of America and the Republic of Ireland met the inclusion criteria. The document analysis identified 16 individual domains. There was consistent evidence of similarity across the three documents. There were minimal divergences featured within the frameworks which are discussed and compelling justifications for inclusion as universal domains are provided. This document analysis has generated a list of 16 common Public Health Nursing competency domains which will be utilized in phase two of this project as a foundational framework for the purpose of analyzing research trends, influencing research priorities, and enhancing the focal areas for future research agendas within the discipline.

How are medical students learning to care for patients with intellectual disabilities? A scoping review.

BACKGROUND: Individuals with intellectual disabilities experience barriers to quality healthcare. To reduce this disparity, equipping medical trainees with the knowledge and skills required for treating this patient population is critical. Our aim is to describe the breadth of instructional interventions and identify gaps in intellectual disability medical education curricula. METHOD: Using scoping review methods, the intellectual disability programmes described in 27 articles were evaluated and their coverage of the six core competencies on disability for health care education was examined. RESULTS: The most frequently represented core competencies were disability conceptual frameworks, professionalism and communication, and clinical assessment, which were, in most programmes, fulfilled by activities involving individuals with intellectual disabilities. Uneven competency coverage warrants consideration. CONCLUSIONS: Considerable variabilities exist in medical school curricula on intellectual disabilities. Using core competencies on disability for health care education for curricular design and evaluation would provide a coherent training experience in this important area.

Position Paper: SGIM Sex- and Gender-Based Women's Health Core Competencies.

Women's health care has evolved significantly since it was first acknowledged as an integral part of internal medicine training more than two decades ago. To update and clarify core competencies in sex- and gender-based women's health for general internists, the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) Women and Medicine Commission prepared the following Position Paper, approved by the SGIM council in 2023. Competencies were developed using several sources, including the 2021 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Program Requirements for Internal Medicine and the 2023 American Board of Internal Medicine Certification Examination Blueprint. These competencies are relevant to the care of patients who identify as women, as well as gender-diverse individuals to whom these principles apply. They align with pivotal advances in women's health and acknowledge the changing context of patients' lives, reaffirming the role of general internal medicine physicians in providing comprehensive care to women.

Emotional intelligence as a mediator between spiritual care-giving competency and core competencies in Chinese nursing interns: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: The development of nursing interns' fundamental competencies should be a top focus because they represent an essential reserve for nursing professionals. The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between spiritual care-giving competency (SCG) and nursing core competencies (NCC) among Chinese nursing interns, adopting a competency-based education (CBE) perspective, additionally, the study aims to examine how emotional intelligence (EI) serves as a mediator in this relationship. METHODS: A nationwide online survey was completed by 1811 Chinese nursing interns at vocational colleges between June and July 2022 as part of a multi-site, cross-sectional, web-based study. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire and competencies inventory for the registered nurse questionnaire (CIRN), the Chinese version of the spiritual care-giving scale questionnaire (C-SCGS), and the Chinese version of the Wong and Law EI scale questionnaire (WLEIS-C). Means, standard deviations, t-tests, one-way ANOVA analysis, and Pearson's production correlation coefficients were calculated using IBM SPSS25.0 software. Mediated effect tests and studies utilizing the process plug-in SPSS developed by Hayes. RESULTS: The NCCs of college nursing interns were related to whether working as student leaders, whether have a better self-learning evaluation level, whether a college nursing intern with good interpersonal relationship, and whether they intend to engage in the nursing profession in the future. The scores of NCC, EI, and SCG were (156.43±23.14), (61.55±9.10), and (167.64±20.52) respectively. There were positive correlations among SCG (r = 0.402), EI (r = 0.506), and NCC. The partial mediating effect of EI between SCG and NCC was 0.127, accounting for 36.29% of the total results. CONCLUSION: The average levels of Chinese college nursing interns' NCC and SCG were at a moderate level. EI is mediating between SCG and NCC in Chinese nursing interns. This new perspective shows that developing and improving SCG and EI may improve NCC. We suggest modifying the nurse curriculum and instruction to strengthen NCC and integrating SCG and EI management into the nursing curriculum.

Self-Assessment of Addiction Medicine Core Competencies in Four Year Groups of Psychiatrists in Training: Efficacy of the Addiction Medicine Training Needs Assessment Scale in a Local Training Context.

BACKGROUND: In addiction medicine training, self-assessment is increasingly used to support self-regulation learning by identifying standards of excellence, competence gaps, and training needs. To ensure psychiatrists in Lithuania also develop specific addiction competencies, the Lithuanian Health Sciences University faculty in Kaunas developed an addiction psychiatry curriculum. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this research is to explore the efficacy of the AM-TNA scale to measure individual and group differences in proficiency in the core competencies of addiction medicine. A cross-sectional study and a convenience sample were used. METHOD: We studied the differences in performance in addiction medicine competencies between 4 successive year groups and analysed the variance to determine the statistical differences between the means of 4 year groups with biases, resulting from repeated measurement statistically corrected-for. RESULTS: Of the psychiatrists in training, 41% or 59% completed the scale. The assessment of competencies suggested that all but 2 competencies differ significantly (p < 0.05) between the 4 groups. The post hoc analyses indicated that mean scores for 24 of the 30 core competencies differed significantly between the year groups (p < 0.05) and showed a gradual increase in scores of self-assessed competencies over the 4 year groups. We found adequate scale variance and a gradual increase in self-assessed competencies between the 4 year groups, suggesting a positive association between the results of incremental professional training and improved self-assessed substance use disorders (SUD) competency scores. CONCLUSIONS: This study illustrates the efficacy of the AM-TNA scale as an assessment instrument in a local training context. Future research should aim to have larger sample sizes, be longitudinal in design, assess individual progress, and focus on comparing and combining self-reported competencies with validated objective external assessment and feedback.

Core competencies in applied infectious disease epidemiology: a framework for countries in Europe.

In 2009, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) developed a competency framework to support European Union countries and the European Commission in ensuring a competent public health workforce for Europe. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic emphasised the importance of harmonised public health strategies and competencies across international boundaries, specifically for infectious diseases. This perspective presents the process to update the competency framework for applied infectious disease epidemiology, highlighting ECDC's efforts to support countries with using the framework. ECDC commissioned the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER) to update the framework through publication and dissemination of a technical report and a self-assessment tool linked to training resources. A mixed methods approach to gather input from experts in relevant specialities included qualitative interviews with 42 experts, workshops with ECDC Technical Advisory Group and an online survey of 212 public health professionals across Europe and beyond. Modifications resulted in 157 core competencies in 23 domains, each mapping to one of six subject areas of importance in applied infectious disease epidemiology. The framework serves as a basis to update the curriculum of the ECDC Fellowship programme with two alternative paths: intervention epidemiology or public health microbiology.

Patient and family perceptions of interprofessional collaborative teamwork: An integrative review.

AIMS: To understand the patient and family perceptions of teamwork by synthesising existing evidence using the Interprofessional Education Collaborative Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice as a guiding framework. BACKGROUND: Advances in healthcare have resulted in more people living longer with health conditions, and patients and families have become the primary caregivers. The role of the interprofessional collaborative team supports a paradigm shift to a care model with the patient and family at the centre of healthcare decisions. However, patient and family views of interprofessional collaborative team care have rarely been studied. METHODS: The authors applied Whittmore and Knafl's methodology to conduct an integrative review of the literature. Databases searched included Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, PubMed and PsycINFO along with reference searches. The studies included were those related to patient and family perceptions of teamwork published from 2000 to 2020. The IPEC Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice served as the guiding framework for analysis. A PRISMA flow chart documented the search, inclusion and exclusion criteria for the review. RESULTS: Seventeen articles met the inclusion criteria. The findings identified differing perspectives by patients of the impact of the interprofessional collaborative team in their care which suggests that interventions to increase knowledge about interprofessional collaborative team care from the patient and family perspective may be beneficial. CONCLUSIONS: There is limited research on understanding IPC teams from the patient and family viewpoint. This review reveals incongruencies in patient and provider perspectives of IPC teams and suggests the need for additional research about patient and family perspectives of teamwork. To fully implement the IPC team vision, perceptions of teamwork must be fully understood.

The effect of scenario-based training on the Core competencies of nursing students: a semi-experimental study.

INTRODUCTION: Competency is defined as the variety of skills and knowledge required to perform a specific task. Due to the specificity of pediatric nursing, students face some challenges in acquiring core competencies. Therefore, the use of new training methods in pediatric nursing is necessary. One of the modern learning methods is learning based on clinical scenarios. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the effect of scenario-based education on the core competencies of nursing students. METHOD: This quasi-experimental study employed a pre-test and post-test design. All participants (n = 72) were selected via the census method and randomly divided into intervention (N = 33) and control groups (N = 40). The data were collected using a demographic information questionnaire and the Nursing Students' Clinical Competencies Questionnaire. Before the intervention, both groups completed the pre-tests. After one month, the students in both groups completed post-tests. RESULTS: The average score of core competencies for the students in the intervention group after the training (247.05, SD = 36.48) increased compared to before the intervention (229.05, SD = 36.58) (P > 0.05). The average score of the core competencies for the students in the control group after the training was 240.76 (SD = 35.36) compared to 235.56 (SD = 27.94) before the intervention, with no significant difference (P < 0.05). The independent t-test did not show a significant difference between the control and intervention groups before and after the intervention (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: The results indicated the effectiveness of scenario-based training on the core competencies of students in the intervention group. Accordingly, nursing administrators and professors are recommended to incorporate new scenario-based teaching and learning methods in educational programs of universities. It is also necessary to conduct more research into the effectiveness of this method in combination with other training methods like team-based and problem-based training.

Effectiveness of an online training program for improving nurses' competencies in disaster risk management.

BACKGROUND: Nurses' incompetency in disaster risk management can have many negative consequences during disasters, so it is important to prepare nurses and improve their competencies in disaster risk management. This study was conducted with the aim of investigating the effectiveness of an online training program to improve competencies in disaster risk management. METHOD: This interventional study was conducted on nurses working in a specialized trauma hospital affiliated with the Kerman University of Medical Sciences in southeastern Iran in 2023. Eighty-one nurses were randomly assigned into two interventions (n = 42) and control groups (n = 39). The intervention group received an online training program in four sessions, and both groups electronically completed the demographic questionnaire and the nurses' perceptions of disaster core competencies scale (NPDCC) before and one month after the intervention. RESULTS: The study results showed no significant difference in disaster competency scores between the two groups before the intervention (p < 0.51), but the NPDCC score in the intervention group was statistically significant after the intervention compared to before the intervention (p < 0.02) and no statistically significant difference was observed between the two groups after the intervention (p < 0.16). CONCLUSION: While the online training program was found to significantly improve the NPDCC score of nurses in the intervention group, this increase was not significant when compared to the control group. Therefore, we suggest continuous practical exercises and maneuvers to improve nurses' perception of the competencies required for effective disaster management.

Development and Pilot Test of the Competency Assessment for Sexual Assault Prevention Practitioners.

Sexual assault is a preventable problem that is widespread and particularly prevalent for certain populations (e.g., female college students, Native American women). Despite the gravity of this public health priority, most individuals tasked with the primary prevention of sexual assault are not adequately trained for the job (e.g., professionals often trained solely in sexual assault response). To achieve optimal outcomes, professionals responsible for implementing sexual assault prevention must possess certain core competencies, or knowledge and skills essential for job performance, which include those needed for any primary prevention effort in addition to those specific to sexual assault prevention. The purpose of this study was to develop and assess the construct validity of a competency assessment tool for sexual assault prevention practitioners. An existing assessment tool, which was designed for injury and violence prevention practitioners, was tailored to reflect competencies needed by sexual assault prevention practitioners as informed by the literature. The newly tailored measure was pilot tested with 33 individuals with varying levels of expertise with sexual assault prevention. These individuals were categorized into three groups based on self-rated sexual assault prevention expertise (low, medium, or high) to assess group differences. As expected, the high expertise group rated higher knowledge in all the competencies than the medium and low expertise groups (except for the competency pertaining to developing and maintaining competency). Data collection and analyses were conducted in 2020. Implications for how the assessment tool can be used to identify gaps among individual practitioners and teams of practitioners are discussed.

[Establishment of Administrative Core Competencies and Evaluation Indicators for Head Nurses].

BACKGROUND: The increasing complexity of the healthcare environment in recent years highlights the importance of cultivating in head nurses the leadership and management competencies necessary to effectively handle complicated administrative tasks and lead nurses in facing various challenges. Identifying the core administrative management competencies required of head nurses and evaluating competency level using behavioral indicators are fundamental to evaluating related training outcomes. PURPOSE: This study was designed to identify the core administrative management competencies required of head nurses as well as the associated job responsibilities, tasks, behavioral evaluation indicators, work outputs, and requisite knowledge and skills. METHODS: This study was conducted in two phases using a qualitative method. The first phase identified the core administrative management competencies and their behavioral definitions. The second phase established competency-related job responsibilities, tasks, behavioral evaluation indicators, work outputs, and requisite knowledge and skills. Each phase consisted of (1) a qualitative interview (first stage) or focus group discussion (second stage) to establish the prototype content; (2) a head nurse workshop to obtain multiple perspectives to modify the prototype content; and (3) a focus group discussion to achieve consensus regarding the content. RESULTS: Nine core competencies related to head nurse administration were identified, including: strategic planning, care supervision, quality improvement, communication, crisis management, responsible leadership, evidence-based practice, digital technology application, and presentation persuasion. Corresponding to these competencies, four responsibilities and associated work tasks were identified. Finally, the related behavioral evaluation indicators, work outputs, and requisite knowledge and skills were confirmed. CONCLUSIONS / IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: The results of this study may be used as the basis for head nurse administrative management training programs, while the identified behavioral evaluation indicators may be used to evaluate head nurse work performance and training outcomes. We recommend other institutions apply the results of this study and develop their own administrative core competencies and evaluation indicators for head nurses.

Development and validation of the safe transfusion assessment tool.

BACKGROUND: Given the prevalence and risks of blood transfusion, it is essential that trainees and practicing clinicians have a thorough understanding of relevant transfusion medicine competencies. The aim of this research was to develop and gather validity evidence for an instrument to assess knowledge of core transfusion-related competencies. METHODS: We developed the safe transfusion assessment tool (STAT) using a multistep process. Initially, 20 core competencies in transfusion medicine were identified through a consensus-driven Delphi process. Learning objectives and assessment items pertinent to each competency were created. Next, a 13-item assessment tool was piloted with multidisciplinary experts and trainees. Multiple iterative revisions were made based on feedback. Finally, the 12-item STAT was administered to 100 participants of varying training level and specialty to establish validity, difficulty and item discrimination indices, and perceived utility. RESULTS: Analysis of instrument item difficulty and item discrimination indices demonstrated the ability of the STAT to assess essential knowledge in transfusion medicine relevant to trainees and clinicians in multiple programs and practice settings. Eight of twelve items discriminated between learners with varying degrees of expertise. Hundred percent of students and trainees rated the STAT as Extremely Helpful or Somewhat Helpful and the majority planned to utilize the answer guide as a study aid. CONCLUSION: The STAT is a concise, valid, and reliable knowledge assessment tool that may be used by researchers and educators to augment transfusion medicine curricula (www.safetransfusion.ucsf.edu). Scores can help inform departments on areas in which trainees require additional support and areas of potential educational interventions.

An analysis of glaucoma repeat measures assessment results: Are core competencies enough?

PURPOSE: The need to validate core competency skills in qualified optometrists wishing to take part in extended roles in glaucoma care has been questioned. This analysis examines the ability of qualified optometrists to perform relevant core competency skills under standardised objective assessment conditions to explore whether such validation is justified. It also investigates if there are associations between performance, gender and length of time since qualification. METHODS: Anonymised data from the Cardiff University assessment programme for the Wales Optometry Postgraduate Education Centre (WOPEC) Local Optical Committee Support Unit glaucoma referral filtering and monitoring pathway delivered between January 2017 and March 2020 were analysed. Results were combined with demographic data from the General Optical Council register of optometrists in the UK to investigate associations between performance and practitioner characteristics, namely length of time since qualification and gender. RESULTS: The assessment results of 2215 optometrists practising in England (approximately 15% of all UK registered optometrists and 30% of all optometrists registered in England) were analysed. Failure rates for first time assessment in each of five objective structured clinical examination style practical assessments were 8.5% (van Herick); 8.8% (slit lamp binocular indirect ophthalmoscopy); 10.1% (Goldmann applanation tonometry calibration); 21.9% (Goldmann applanation tonometry) and 23.3% (case scenario interpretation and management). There were either no associations or at most very weak associations between performance and practitioner characteristics. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that these competencies are not universally present in optometrists practising in England and that ongoing training and assessment of these competencies is justified for entry into extended roles. There are no meaningful associations between performance in these assessments and gender or time since qualification.

Core competencies for a biomedical laboratory scientist - a Delphi study.

BACKGROUND: After completing university education, biomedical laboratory scientists work in clinical laboratories, in biomedical research laboratories, in biotech, and in pharmaceutical companies. Laboratory diagnostics have undergone rapid development over the recent years, with the pace showing no signs of abatement. This rapid development challenges the competence of the staff and will most certainly influence the education of future staff. This study aimed to examine what was considered the necessary competencies needed to pursue a career as a biomedical laboratory scientist. METHODS: A modified Delphi technique was used, with the panel of experts expressing their views in a series of three questionnaire. Consensus was defined as the point which 75 % or more of the panel participants agreed that a particular competency was necessary. RESULTS: The study highlights the perceived importance of mostly generic competencies that relate to quality, quality assurance, and accuracy, as well as different aspects of safety, respect, trustworthiness (towards patients/clients and colleagues), and communication skills. The results also stress the significance of self-awareness and professionality. CONCLUSIONS: We identified important competencies for biomedical laboratory scientists. Together with complementary information from other sources, i.e., guidelines, laws, and scientific publications, the competencies identified can be used as learning outcomes in a competency-based education to provide students with all the competencies needed to work as professional biomedical laboratory scientists.

Education Competencies for Integrative Oncology-Results of a Systematic Review and an International and Interprofessional Consensus Procedure.

Integrative oncology is a burgeoning field and typically provided by a multiprofessional team. To ensure cancer patients receive effective, appropriate, and safe care, health professionals providing integrative cancer care should have a certain set of competencies. The aim of this project was to define core competencies for different health professions involved in integrative oncology. The project consisted of two phases. A systematic literature review on published competencies was performed, and the results informed an international and interprofessional consensus procedure. The second phase consisted of three rounds of consensus procedure and included 28 experts representing 7 different professions (medical doctors, psychologists, nurses, naturopathic doctors, traditional Chinese medicine practitioners, yoga practitioners, patient navigators) as well as patient advocates, public health experts, and members of the Society for Integrative Oncology. A total of 40 integrative medicine competencies were identified in the literature review. These were further complemented by 18 core oncology competencies. The final round of the consensus procedure yielded 37 core competencies in the following categories: knowledge (n = 11), skills (n = 17), and abilities (n = 9). There was an agreement that these competencies are relevant for all participating professions. The integrative oncology core competencies combine both fundamental oncology knowledge and integrative medicine competencies that are necessary to provide effective and safe integrative oncology care for cancer patients. They can be used as a starting point for developing profession-specific learning objectives and to establish integrative oncology education and training programs to meet the needs of cancer patients and health professionals.

Interprofessional educators' competencies, assessment, and training - IPEcat: protocol of a global consensus study.

Contemporary practice in interprofessional education (IPE) has evolved predominantly focusing on the competencies for interprofessional collaboration (IPC) that learners must acquire. Competencies that educators need to successfully deliver IPC have been overlooked. This lack of attention is further confounded by a field replete with inconsistent terminology and standards and no global consensus on the core competencies needed for IPE facilitation. There are no globally accepted tools to assess interprofessional educators' competencies nor are there established training programmes that might be used as the basis for a collective global approach to these issues. The International Working Group for Interprofessional Educators Competencies, Assessment, and Training (IWG_IPEcat) seeks to address this gap using a sequential mixed-method approach, to deliver globally developed, empirically derived tools to foster IPE educator competencies. This article presents the protocol of the research project.

Bibliometric analysis of core competencies associated nursing management publications.

AIMS: This study aimed to identify high-impact papers on global nursing to determine and analyse the publication of articles on core competencies in nursing-related journals and the research trends in the era of globalization. BACKGROUND: Bibliometrics has been shown to be an effective method for analysing publications. Through bibliometrics, nursing managers and researchers can understand the trends of high-impact international nursing core competencies research, identify mainstream research directions and obtain relevant knowledge and information, thereby facilitating the translation of research outcomes into nursing management practice. EVALUATION: The study adopted bibliometric analysis and the VOSviewer software to explore dynamic publication trends and analyse the current situation of nursing research from a comprehensive development perspective, which was realized by searching for nursing core competencies papers in the Web of Science (WoS) database, calculating citations and determining the trends of the most influential papers. KEY ISSUES: Nursing core competencies research grew rapidly between 1997 and 2022. Countries with the most core competencies publications were the United States, England, Australia and Canada. The Journal of Nursing Management has attracted substantial attention from researchers worldwide. Education, Management and Nurses were the most frequently used keywords in the study. A total of 534 papers were retrieved from the WoS database with the main research fields, including nursing, business economics, public environmental occupational health and health care science services. CONCLUSION: Equipping nursing graduates with core competencies has always been an important goal of global medical and nursing education. This study analysed papers across 35 years, most of which were published in the Journal of Nursing Management. In addition, the study identified some of the main research topics of nursing management, such as the integration of education with nursing management and the cultivation of nurses' core competencies. The study also provides a fresh review of highly cited articles. The results of the study show that high-quality articles play the role of improving both the quality and the quantity of related research. By analysing the trends of the research on core competencies, this study lays a bibliometric foundation for researchers regarding international journals, hot topics and relevant fields. In addition, the highly cited articles reveal new perspectives for the nursing field, providing inspiration for nursing management and education researchers. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: This study provides scholars and managers with an overview of the current situation of nursing management research and the development of benchmark journals. The study provides researchers not only with a better understanding of various international journals, allowing them to transition out of traditional thinking in the era of science and technology, but also with innovative thinking by combining research with nursing management. The results of this study invite nursing managers to study relevant topics of core competencies and integrate information technology to education, management and nurses, thereby contributing to nursing management and educational research.

Nurses' disaster core competencies and resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study from Turkey.

AIM: The aim of this study is to determine nurses' disaster core competency levels, compare them based on characteristics and examine the relationships with psychological resilience. BACKGROUND: Since nurses constitute a critical part in the health care services, it is important to understand the competencies and effective factors in their disaster preparedness. METHODS: The data were collected from 489 nurses between January and February 2021 with an introductory information form, the Nurses' Perceptions of Disaster Core Competencies Scale and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale. RESULTS: The nurses' level of disaster core competencies was above the average, and it was positively correlated with their psychological resilience. The nurses' disaster experiences made higher differences on their disaster core competencies when compared to their personal and professional characteristics. CONCLUSIONS: It is important to provide disaster training and drills to all nurses on a regular basis. However, under disaster conditions, resilience should also be considered and included in the preparation plans for nurses to support their professional competencies and qualifications. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Nurse managers should play a leadership role in planning disaster preparedness training for nurses, and these trainings should be addressed to cover both professional competencies and resilience for nurses to respond effectively to disasters.

Defining Core Competencies for Epidemiologists in Academic Settings to Tackle Tomorrow's Health Research Challenges: A Structured, Multinational Effort.

Only a few efforts have been made to define core competencies for epidemiologists working in academic settings. Here we describe a multinational effort to define competencies for epidemiologists, who are increasingly facing emerging and potentially disruptive technological and societal health trends in academic research. During a 1.5-year period (2017-2019), we followed an iterative process that aimed to be inclusive and multinational to reflect the various perspectives of a diverse group of epidemiologists. Competencies were developed by a consortium in a consensus-oriented process that spanned 3 main activities: 2 in-person interactive meetings held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and Zurich, Switzerland, and an online survey. In total, 93 meeting participants from 16 countries and 173 respondents from 19 countries contributed to the development of 31 competencies. These 31 competencies included 14 on "developing a scientific question" and "study planning," 12 on "study conduct and analysis," 3 on "overarching competencies," and 2 on "communication and translation." The process described here provides a consensus-based framework for defining and adapting the field. It should initiate a continuous process of thinking about competencies and the implications for teaching epidemiology to ensure that epidemiologists working in academic settings are well prepared for today's and tomorrow's health research.