NURSING STUDENTS’ SELF-ASSESSMENTS OF THEIR PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCIES

ABSTRACT Purpose: The study aims to determine the effect of clinical practice on nursing students’ professional competencies. Material and Methods: This is a quasi-experimental study with a one-group pretest-posttest design. Its population consisted of 375 second-, third- and fourth-year nursing students who had completed at least one year of nursing education at the nursing faculty where the study was conducted. No sampling was done, and the study was completed with 265 students who agreed to participate. The data were collected using an introductory information form and the Competency Inventory of Nursing Students (CINS). The pre-test data were collected in the second week when the students started their clinical practice, and the post-test data were collected in the twelfth week near the end of their clinical practice. Results: A statistically significant difference was found between the nursing students’ pre- and post-test mean scores on the CINS and its clinical biomedical science, general clinical skills, critical thinking and reasoning, caring, and lifelong learning subscales (p