A needs assessment for competency development of nurse educators.

Objective: The purposes of this study were to assess the current competencies and desired competency development of nurse educators and to examine differences in how they ranked their needs by participants' gender, age, educational qualification, and work experience.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study. Participants were 435 nurse educators working at nursing colleges under the Ministry of Public Health, Thailand, in 2021.

Results: Participants had significantly higher desired scores for competency development than the actual condition scores (p < .05). They prioritized their competence development needs from highest to lowest scores as follows: (1) nursing knowledge, (2) teaching pedagogy, (3) learning activities preparation, (4) professional value, (5) learning atmosphere building, (6) educator professional ethics, (7) learning outcomes measures, and (8) learning plan. Participants with different gender, education levels, ages, and work experiences set similar priorities for competency development needs.

Conclusion: Nurse educators first emphasized knowledge and teaching skills improvement, followed by enhancing value. However, their needs were not different when categorized by gender, age, educational qualification, and work experience. Therefore, planning to develop all competencies is urged and prioritized. Similarly, future research should explore suitable competency development programs for these nurse educators in each area. Our study's findings could be an example applied to other nursing schools worldwide to improve nurse educators' competencies.