Development of a Nursing Professional Excellency Tool for Nursing Officers in Chemotherapy Units at a Tertiary Cancer Care Center, Mumbai

Abstract

Prathepa Jagdish, Priya Dadarao Kale, Sindhu Nair and Anita D’Souza

Introduction: Nursing is a complex science that involves more than just skills of doing as it also takes an understanding of human experience. Nursing professional excellency tool is used to measure the ability of a nurse to effectively demonstrate a set of attributes such as personal characteristics, professional attitude, values, knowledge and skills to fulfill his/her professional responsibility through their practice. A competent person must possess these attributes and have the motivation and ability to utilize them, and provide safe, effective nursing care to the client. This assessment approach is continuous learning and skill development. Professional excellency tool focuses on the nurse’s efficiency which should incorporate essential domains -Cognitive ,Psychomotor ,Values, Fulfillment of professional responsibilities, Motivation and Utilization, Supportive and therapeutic relationships, Safe and effective professional responsibilities and Evidence-based nursing care and characteristics were further categorized as interdependence /self-motivation /initiative, decision making and advocacy, professional practice and leadership communication, confidence, teaching and coaching, optimism, evidence-based management with cancer related symptoms and professional accountability, interpersonal skills, use of technology, education and continuous learning, and patient- centered and holistic care. As several authors have made significant contributions in improving nursing competencies, existing frameworks continue to have strengths and limitations. Recognizing this gap, the researcher designed and developed a Nursing Professional Excellency Tool, based on evidence-based practices to meet the changing demands of modern healthcare systems Primary objectives were development of Nursing Professional Excellency Tool and testing its reliability and to find out the association between demographic data and the Nursing Professional Excellency Tool. Methodology - The study focused on developing and validating the Nursing Professional Excellency Tool for nursing officers in chemotherapy care. A cross-sectional design was used , with a sample size of 60 participants from Tata Memorial Hospital and ACTREC, Mumbai after following IEC approval, CTRI registration and informed consent. The process comprised three stages: identification of core domains and item development through literature review, expert content validation using the Delphi technique (S-CVI/Average = 0.98%), content validity index (CVI) and reliability assessment through Cronbach’s alpha by Miller’s pyramid framework. Data were gathered through questioning, observation, and low simulation method and analyzed by using descriptive statistics and reliability.

Results: The internal consistency of the 32-item Nursing Professional Excellency Tool was evaluated using Cronbach’s alpha, which resulted an overall value of 0.815, indicating good reliability and consistent measurement of Nursing Professional excellency tool among nursing officers. Domain wise alpha values ranged from 0.1589 to 0.7193, with the Psychomotor domain showing the highest reliability (α=0.71) and Motivation and Utilization the lowest (α=0.15),whereas Spearman’s coefficient analysis indicated that Psychomotor items were largely positively correlated (–13.5% to 56%), with moderate significant correlations (33–56%) confirmed construct consistency. Cognitive and Values domains also showed moderate positive associations, supporting internal coherence and validity. Nursing Professional Excellency Tool scores were significantly associated with Age (p = 0.025), Gender (p = 0.036), and professional designation /Post (p = 0.013), but showed no significant relationship with education (p = 0.395, 0.837) or work experience (p = 0.482).

Conclusion: The Nursing Professional Excellency Tool was developed and validated as a reliable (Cronbach’s α = 0.815) and valid instrument for assessing Nursing competence. Expert reviews (CVI = 0.98%) item-domain correlations confirmed its content and construct validity. Nursing Professional excellency tool scores were influenced by age, gender, and professional designation or Post , highlighted the demographic effects on Professional excellence. The tool offered a practical framework to identify competency gaps, guide professional development and enhance nursing performance and patient care, supporting its use in research, education, and administrative settings in similar setting and can be utilized as a standardized tool.

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