The effects of professional nurses’ competency promotion program on knowledge and practice of caring for patients with gynecological cancer receiving chemotherapy in Samutprakan hospital

Abstract

This research develops a program to promote the competence of professional nurses in knowledge and practice of caring for patients with gynecological cancer receiving chemotherapy in Samutprakan hospital and studies the effects of using the program. The samples were professional nurses who practice in the obstetrics and gynecology ward, Samutprakan hospital. Eleven representatives were included by purposive sampling. This study was divided into two parts: Part 1: Develop a program to promote the competence of professional nurses using Bandura's self-efficacy theory as a conceptual framework. Part 2: Study the effects of using the program. The intervention and data collection tools are 1) Program for promoting the competence of professional nurses in the knowledge and practice of caring for patients with gynecological cancer receiving chemotherapy, 2) General information record form, 3) The questionnaire which evaluates the knowledge of caring for patients with gynecological cancer receiving chemotherapy, and 4) The nursing record form of taking care for patients with gynecological cancer receiving chemotherapy. Descriptive statistics and Wilcoxon signed-rank test were used for data analysis. The result reveals that the program, which consists of 4 activities including promoting learning, observing model or people’s experiences, successful actions by oneself and encouraging competency by giving advice or persuasion, promotes the competence of professional nurses and was proved by the CVI content validity index is equal to 1. The mean score of knowledge of professional nurses after joining the program was significantly higher than before joining the program (P<0.001) and there was a statistically significant increase in the patient care practice score after joining the program (P=0.003).