The relationship among academic achievement, clinical competence, and confidence in clinical performance of nursing students

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine relationships between academic achievement, clinical competence, and confidence in the clinical performance of nursing students, and to identify factors that influence them.Methods: This was a descriptive correlation study. Data were collected from 118 nursing students at a nursing college in Seoul. One-way variance analysis, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and multiple linear regression analysis were used to examine relationships between academic achievement, clinical competence, and confidence in clinical performance.Results: Clinical competence was related to academic achievement in students’ previous semester and to students’ academic scores in a fundamental of nursing course. Clinical competence showed a weak positive correlation with academic achievement in students’ previous semester and academic scores in a fundamental of nursing course in both evaluations by the professor and students’ self-evaluations. However, confidence in clinical performance had no significant correlation with academic achievement. The factor affecting the clinical competence was academic scores in a fundamental of nursing course, and factors affecting confidence in clinical performance were health status, personality, major suitability, and class satisfaction in a fundamental of nursing skills course.Conclusion: These findings indicate that students with high academic achievement have better clinical performance, but confidence in clinical performance is not related to academic achievement.