Examining the relationship between professional competencies and nursing caring perception in NEW graduate nurses

Nurses must be competent in terms of knowledge, skills, abilities and critical thinking in order to provide safe care. This descriptive and relational study was conducted examine the relationship between new graduate nurses caring perception and professional competencies . The study sample consisted of 249 new graduate nurses in four public universities in Ankara, graduated of the 2019-2020 Academic Year. In the study, Caring Behaviors Inventory-CBI was used to evaluate the caring perception and The Competency Inventory of Nursing Students–CINS was used to evaluate the competency levels of new graduate nurses. As a result of the study, it was found that care perceptions and the professional competencies of newly graduated nurses were at a good level. It was found that the care perceptions of new graduates were more positively affected in the group who "having previous experience of giving/ medical care, choose the nursing profession willingly, have no problems in professional orientation during the pandemic process and thinking that the content of the professional education is sufficient". On the other hand, it has been determined that the professional competencies of newly graduated nurses are positively affected by the factors of "having a female gender, having previous giving medical care experience, choosing the nursing profession willingly and thinking that the content of the professional education is sufficient". In study, a moderate, positive relationship between caring perception of new graduate nurses and professional competencies was found. This study's results suggest that an examination of care perceptions and competency of new graduate nurses during the education process should be examined.