Enhancing Nurse Practitioners' Emergency Care Competency and Self-Efficacy Through Experiential Learning: A Single-Group Repeated Measures Study.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Nurse practitioners serve a vital role as first responders in emergencies. This study investigated the effectiveness of experiential learning in enhancing emergency care competency and self-efficacy among nurse practitioners.

METHODS

A single-group repeated measures design was implemented from June to August 2023 at a regional teaching hospital in southern Taiwan, involving 95 nurse practitioners and NP trainees. Participants completed a baseline (T) three-minute emergency simulation test, followed by one-on-one guidance, an immediate post-test (T), and a follow-up test one month later (T). The "Emergency Care Capability Checklist" (ECCC) was used to assess performance after each test, and the "General Self-Efficacy Scale" at T and T.

RESULTS

The mean age of the participants was 42.1 years (SD = 6.7), with 91 out of 95 participants (95.8%) being female. ECCC scores increased significantly from a baseline mean of 34.6 (standard deviation [SD] = 8.8 at T to 46.4 (SD = 4.3) at T ( < 0.001). Scores remained elevated at T, with a mean of 44.7 (SD = 4.9), which was significantly higher than T ( < 0.001). However, scores at T were slightly lower than at T ( = 0.018). GSES scores also increased significantly from T (mean = 26.2, SD = 0.6) to T (mean = 28.0, SD = 0.6) ( = 0.009).

CONCLUSIONS

This study found that experiential learning was able to significantly improve nurse practitioners' emergency care competencies and self-efficacy. Future research should explore the application of experiential learning in diverse clinical settings to further advance emergency preparedness and self-efficacy among nurse practitioners.