Shin, H. Zhamankulova, M., Jeon, H., Kim, S., Muratbekova, M., Djumalieva, G., Kurmanalieva, Z., Aidarova, M., & Kadyrova, Zh. (2023, July 20-23). Development of Nursing Core Competency in the Kyrgyz Republic: A Mixed Method, Global Collaborative Study [Oral Presentation]. The 34th International Nursing Research Congress, Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Purpose: The government of Kyrgyz Republic is striving to improve the education of health care workers as a strategy to secure competent health care workers (Moldoisaeva, et al., 2022). Nurses compose the majority of the health care workers(National Statistical Committee of the Kyrgyzstan Republic, 2020), and improvement of nursing education can be an important policy strategy that can improve the health level of the population through enhancement of the nursing competency (Somani & Karmaliani, 2017). However, the low level of professional education, lack of motivation and professional reputation are adversely affecting the development of nursing education(Amanbekov, 2019). It is necessary to raise the social awareness level and motivate by ensuring the competency of nurses through the awarding of international degrees and national qualification certification by promoting the quality improvement of the nursing curriculum(Shin, 2022). This study aims to identify the competency and competency development needs of nurses in the Kyrgyz Republic.

Methods: An explorative sequential mixed methods study design was used. We conducted 10 times of focus group interviews and the online and offline survey were performed. We used the competency inventory for registered nurses developed by Liu et al (2007). The instrument was translated into Russian and Kyrgyz language, and modified according to the findings of focus group interviews and expert content validity evaluation. A total of 315 nurses and nurse managers participated in this study. Qualitative content analysis and performance analysis were used to identify nursing competency and competency development needs of nurses in the Kyrgyz Republic. A Kyrgyz-Korean research team has performed this global collaborative study since April 1, 2022, and this study was performed from June 2022 to November 2022.

Results: In the qualitative data phase, nurses described major roles and functions of nurses were interprofessional and multi-professional collaboration, information and communication, professional responsibility, health promotion and disease prevention, patient education, documenting and reporting, attitude, clinical decision making, nursing practice skills, management and leadership, infection control, and human relationships. Importance-performance analysis showed that professional development, clinical care, and legal/ethical practice were located in the right upper quadrant meaning high importance and high performance. On the other hand, the interpersonal relationship was positioned on the left lower quadrant meaning low importance and low performance, which was different from that described as the major role of nurses in FGI. Among the subdomains of interpersonal relationships, express disagreements in a constructive manner (Importance =0.76 ± 0.84, Performance = 0.91 ± 0.75) and adjust actions in relation to other's actions(Importance = 0.88 ± 0.81, Performance = 0.97 ±0.74) showed the lowest importance and performance.

Conclusion: The results of this study can suggest a specific strategy to establish the Bachelor of Nursing and Master of Nursing programs in the Kyrgyz Republic based on the analysis of nursing competency and competency development needs. These would be effective measures for securing competent healthcare workers and improving the level of national health that the government of Kyrgyz Republic has pursued.