[Relationship Among Personality, Self-Efficacy, and Perioperative Nursing Competence in Operating Room Nurses].

Background: Perioperative nursing competence encompasses six core areas: foundational knowledge and skills, leadership, proficiency, empathy, professional development, and collaboration. These competences directly affect clinical practice and patient care outcomes.

Purpose: This study was designed to explore the relationship among personality, self-efficacy, and perioperative nursing competence in operating room nurses.

Methods: A cross-sectional correlational design was used and study data were collected from 119 operating room nurses working at a medical center in southern Taiwan. The instruments used included the Work Locus of Control Scale, the General Self-Efficacy Scale, and the Perceived Perioperative Competence Scale-Revised Short Form. The data were analyzed using Pearson's correlation, linear regression, and logistic regression via SPSS version 20.0.

Results: Educational level, professional rank, years of experience, and locus of control personality traits were identified as not significantly related to clinical competence. However, clinical competence was found to correlate positively and significantly with self-efficacy (r = .54, p < .001), explaining 28% of the variance. Moreover, knowledge competence was found to correlate positively and significantly with both educational level (odds ratio, OR = 42.29, p < .001) and years of experience (OR = 1.18, p < .001).

Conclusions / implications for practice: Clinical competence may be improved by enhancing self-efficacy, and knowledge competence is positively associated with higher educational levels and more years of experience. In light of these findings, education and training on perioperative nursing competence should be incorporated into advanced training programs and educational curricula in clinical settings. Further research on the factors related to core competencies in Taiwan and appropriate revisions to relevant scales to meet domestic contexts are also recommended to improve professional and educational quality.