Development of a Competency Enhancement Training Program for Nurse Anesthetist Preceptors, Nakornping Hospital

Abstract

     This quasi experimental research aimed to develop a training program to enhance the competencies of nurse anesthetist preceptors at Nakornping Hospital and to examine the effects of the program on their competencies.. The participants comprised two primary groups. The first consisted of nurse anesthetists at Nakornping Hospital and included: (1) a three-member nurse anesthetist development team, each with more than 10 years of experience; and (2) 20 nurse anesthetist preceptors with 2–10 years of nurse anesthesia experience who participated in the training program. The second group comprised 18 registered nurses enrolled as trainees in a one-year nurse anesthesia training program. The instruments used in this study consisted of research implementation tools and a data collection instrument. The research implementation instruments included a focus group interview guide, a nurse anesthetist preceptor training program for Nakornping hospital, and in-program evaluation forms consisting of a preceptor knowledge assessment, a case study analysis evaluation, and a training program satisfaction survey. The data collection instrument was the Nurse Anesthetist Preceptor Competency Assessment Data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test, and content categorization.

     The findings were as follows: 1. The training program comprised six components: (1) program objectives; (2) target participants; (3) training content covering nurse preceptor roles and responsibilities, the four competency domains, and the competency development approach; (4) a two-phase training structure consisting of classroom instruction and clinical practice in the operating room; (5) designated instructors or facilitators; and (6) evaluation methods and criteria applied during training and after program completion. 2. After program implementation, nurse preceptors demonstrated a statistically significant increase in their overall self-assessed competencies (z = -2.20, p = .028) and teaching competency (z= -2.21, p = .027). Nonetheless, no significant differences were found in counseling and empowerment, anesthesia nursing practice, and role-modeling competencies. Meanwhile, the competency scores of the nurse preceptors evaluated by the nurse trainees before and after implementation showed no statistically significant differences, overall (z = -0.83, p = .381) or across individual dimensions (z = -0.37- -1.36, p = 0.225 - .884). 3. Post-training knowledge scores regarding the roles and competencies of nurse preceptors were significantly higher than pre-training scores (z= -3.05, p=.002). Furthermore, the scores for group case study analysis were rated as excellent, with all groups scoring between 95% and 96.67%. In addition, the nurse preceptors reported the highest level of satisfaction across all items (= 4.71, SD = 0.49).