Core competencies of clinical nurse specialists: A comparison across three Nordic countries

Abstract

Aim: To describe and compare the clinical nurse specialist core competency use in Finland, Denmark and Iceland. Background: Clinical nurse specialist roles were first developed more than 60 years ago in the United States. Within the Nordic countries, the clinical nurse specialist role emerged around 2000. There is scarcity of clinical nurse specialist competency descriptions outside of North America, and research has been limited to examine or validate established competencies across different countries. Design: A descriptive correlational study. Methods: An online survey was conducted from May to September 2019. A population sample of clinical nurse specialists in Finland, Denmark and Iceland was recruited. A validated self-report questionnaire of clinical nurse specialist competencies was used. The data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics, and the STROBE checklist was used as the reporting guideline.Results: A total sample of 184 clinical nurse specialists, 52 from Finland, 95 from Denmark and 37 from Iceland, participated in the study (response rate = 72%, 35% and 48%, respectively). Overall, clinical nurse specialists utilised the organisational competency most frequently followed by the patient, clinical nursing leadership and scholarship competency. Univariate analysis of variance test between-country effects showed statistically significant difference in patient competency (p = .000) and in organisational competency (p < .05). There were no statistically significant differences between counties in the utilisation of clinical nursing leadership and scholarship competency. Conclusion:A small variability was found in the comparison of the clinical nurse specialist use of core competency in the spheres of patient, nursing, organisation and scholarship within three Nordic countries.

Delphi survey on the application of advanced practice nursing competencies: Strong points and unfinished business in cancer care

“…Our results differ from those obtained by Jokiniemi (2018Jokiniemi ( , 2021, who reported limited time spent on direct patient care or contact by APNs; in contrast, direct clinical practice was one of the most highly developed competency domains in our study.…”

“…Studying the implementation of competencies in advanced practice roles and contexts can deepen our understanding of the role, define it more clearly, improve clinical outcomes and contribute to promoting nursing practice and the quality of nursing care (Jean et al, 2019;Jokiniemi et al, 2021;Sastre-Fullana et al, 2015). This aspect is relevant when crafting job descriptions, professional performance evaluations, clinical certification, and competency and education evaluation programmes (Burke et al, 2017;Sastre-Fullana et al, 2017).…”

Outcomes and challenges of successful clinical nurse specialist role implementation: Participatory action research

“…Unit-based working mode is important, as the wide work span involving several units has been previously noted as causing the CNS role being conducted at an abstract level (Jokiniemi et al, 2015). Furthermore, compared to the findings of some previous studies about the challenges and diminished CNS direct clinical practice (Jokiniemi | 711 et al, 2015;Jokiniemi, Heikkilä, et al, 2021;Jokiniemi, Holge-Hazelton, et al, 2021;National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists, 2020), in this study, we were able to channel CNS time towards direct clinical practice, leading to variable outcomes in the patient domain of the CNS practice. As a result of the PAR, the newly established CNS used most of her time in clinical patient care (40%).…”

“…Few national policy papers include the role of CNS and guide role implementation (Finnish Nurses Association, 2016;Jokiniemi et al, 2019;MSAH, 2020). In addition, the CNS core competencies have been described in Finland and validated in the Nordic context (Jokiniemi, Holge-Hazelton, et al, 2021;.…”

“…Few national policy papers include the role of CNS and guide role implementation (Finnish Nurses Association, 2016; Jokiniemi et al, 2019; MSAH, 2020). In addition, the CNS core competencies have been described in Finland and validated in the Nordic context (Jokiniemi, Holge‐Hazelton, et al, 2021; Jokiniemi, Pietilä, et al, 2021). Although the CNS role is not licenced or regulated, it is noted that organizations are increasingly developing nursing career ladders and use the policy papers and guiding documents to introduce integrated CNS roles.…”