Nurses' perceptions of clinical competency and individualized care in relation to solid organ transplantation

This cross-sectional, descriptive correlational study examined nurses’ perceptions of transplant nursing competency (TNC) and individualized care (IC) levels for solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients, living donors, and their families while also exploring the relationships among nurse characteristics, TNC, and IC. Three hundred ninety-one participants, comprising U.S. nurses caring for SOT recipients, living donors, and their families, completed the survey. A TNC survey was developed based on Standards of Practice for Transplant Nurses and 88 items on a scale of 5-point Likert (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree). The ICS-Nurse A & B survey measured the perception of IC, with 34 items on a 5-point Likert (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree). The TNC and ICS-Nurse A & B are reliable instruments measuring transplant nurses’ perceptions of clinical competency and individualized care in relation to SOT recipients, living donors, and their families, as demonstrated by their reliability values falling within the range of (.827 - .990). The total TNC mean score was ‘good’ (M = 334.48, SD = 67.74), and the total IC mean score was ‘low’ (M = 64.96, SD 13.07). There was a strong positive correlation between TNC and IC levels (r = .969, p < 0.05). The nurse characteristics (age, gender, highest education level, scope of practice, years as an RN, years as an APRN, years in direct care for transplant patients, type of nursing setting, primary language, race, and ethnicity) predicted a 42.6% variation in the TNC levels (p < .001), and a 42.0% variation in the IC levels (p < .001). The nurse characteristics, age, gender, years as an RN, type of nursing setting, ethnicity, and race significantly influenced IC levels. Also, the TNC level was significantly influenced by the nurses' age, gender, years as an RN, type of nursing setting, and ethnicity. This study provides new evidence to explore transplant nursing practice, education/training, and research.