Analysis of the specific skills of pre-hospital emergency nurses in Spain

Section: Originals

How to quote

Vázquez-Casares A, Vidal-García J. Análisis de las competencias específicas de la Enfermería de urgencias pre-hospitalarias en España. Metas Enferm jun 2020; 23(5):61-70. Doi: https://doi.org/10.35667/MetasEnf.2019.23.1003081596

Authors

Ana Vázquez-Casares1, Javier Vidal-García2

Position

1Máster en Investigación en Psicología y Ciencias de la Educación. Departamento de Enfermería y Fisioterapia. Área de Enfermería. Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud. Universidad de León 2Doctor por la Universidad de Salamanca. Departamento de Psicología, Sociología y Filosofía. Área de Métodos de Investigación y Diagnóstico en Educación. Facultad de Educación. Universidad de León

Contact address

Ana Vázquez-Casares. Departamento de Enfermería y Fisioterapia. Área de Enfermería. Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud. Universidad de León. Campus de V

Contact email: ana.vazquez@unileon.es

Abstract

Objective: to explore the importance assigned by pre-hospital emergency nursing professionals to competence in their position, as well as to the training needed to acquire said skills.
Method: a descriptive cross-sectional study on pre-hospital care nursing professionals from the emergency managements throughout Spain. An ad-hoc self-administered online questionnaire was designed, considering literature and criteria by experts, and consisting of 60 skills distributed into 10 domains (each skill was valued through a Likert scale from 1 to 5 (best valued)). Independent variables: age, gender, type of setting where the activity of care is conducted, training level in emergencies, duration of the post-graduate degree, and work experience. Bivariate analysis was conducted with non-parametric tests (Mann-Whitney’s U and Kruskal-Wallis test).
Results: in total, 91 answers were retrieved. The three best valued skills were: “Conducting life support manoeuvres” (mean: 4.85), “Having a cooperative attitude for team work”” (mean: 4.77) and “Demand for permanent professional training and update” (mean: 4.74). The importance assigned showed significant differences according to gender in eight skills, depending on type of care setting where they conducted their professional activity in seven skills, and according to the duration of postgraduate training in four skills. Postgraduate training level was considered essential.
Conclusions: the importance assigned combines, with a higher score, the technical skill of conducting life support manoeuvres, the non-technical skill of a cooperative attitude with the team, and the demand for permanent training. Efficacy in performance demands training beyond Degree.

Keywords:

skills; pre-hospital Nursing; training levels; emergency Nursing; competence-based education; research; cross-sectional study

Versión en Español

Título:

Análisis de las competencias específicas de la Enfermería de urgencias pre-hospitalarias en España