title: Nursing competencies: ground work in aged and extended care.
abstract: Competencies have been formulated for entry level nurses. Specialist and generic advanced nursing competencies are also being developed. This paper describes exploratory groundwork on aged and extended care nursing competencies derived from interviews with nurses, allied health staff, residents and their families from one setting. Critical Incident Technique1 was used to guide semistructured interviews with 29 participants. A thematic analysis of the data suggests that the Australian Nursing Council Inc.2 competencies make a useful but incomplete contribution to understanding the perceived role of nursing in aged and extended care. A conceptual framework developed from the data illustrates the interdependence of competencies with the context in which they are observed. The framework proposes a number of elements which have the potential to offer a means to better interpret nursing competence (critical aspects) in aged and extended care contexts.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Nursing, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ballantyne
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cheek
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: O'Brien
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pincombe
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001315:Australia; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards*; D005851:Geriatric Nursing / Q000193:education / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007587:Job Description; D008134:Long-Term Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D016294:Models, Nursing; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009736:Nursing Process; D009740:Nursing Staff / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D009743:Nursing, Practical / Q000193:education / Q000458:organization & administration; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires