2022 Volume 18 Pages 92-100
Objective: Nurses need knowledge and practical skills to provide nursing care, but there are no competency models developed to provide nursing care to patients on mechanical ventilation or veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VV-ECMO) worldwide. We aimed to develop a competency model for nurses working with patients on mechanical ventilation or VV-ECMO.
Methods: We conducted a three-round Delphi survey using a web-based questionnaire system after a Focus Group Discussion to establish a basis for competency. We conducted snowball sampling and invited 55 nurses working in the intensive care unit (ICU) and serving as nursing practice educators regarding care of patients on VV-ECMO. The questionnaire required responses on a scale of zero to 100 for each question. We judged consensus for each question whose response fell over median >70 until round two, and whose response fell over median >80 for competency model in round three.
Results: Forty-four nurses participated in the Delphi processes and served as our sample. The average age of participants was 38.9 years (SD=6.1) and average work experience in the ICU was 12.7 years (SD=4.5). Of the total participants, 52.3% (22/44) were women. All expressed consensus for 29 items regarding mechanical ventilation and 31 items regarding VV-ECMO.
Conclusion: We developed a competency model for nurses working with patients on mechanical ventilation or VV-ECMO. This competency model could be used to develop nursing educational programs and serve as guides for those who want to provide nursing care to patients on mechanical ventilation or VV-ECMO.
