Degree Name
Nursing Practice, DNP
Publication Date
9-21-2026
First Advisor
Sandy King
Second Advisor
Beverly Clark
Abstract
Long-term care facilities require nursing staff who can competently perform clinical skills; however, the project site relied primarily on written in-service education and attendance verification without direct validation of psychomotor performance. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to evaluate competency-based nursing education in a long-term care facility. The aim was to strengthen demonstrated urinary catheterization competency and evaluate changes in perceived professional nursing competence and general self-efficacy among licensed nurses. A quasi-experimental, one-group pretest-posttest design included 12 registered and licensed practical nurses. Plan-Do-Study-Act guided implementation, Lewin’s Change Theory guided organizational change, and Social Cognitive Theory supported the educational approach. The evidence-based practice intervention consisted of video-based urinary catheterization instruction, a knowledge post-test, low-fidelity simulation, and observed return demonstration using a standardized competency checklist. The Nursing Professional Competence Scale–Short Form and General Self-Efficacy Scale were administered before and after the intervention. All 12 participants achieved the knowledge benchmark and demonstrated urinary catheterization competency, resulting in 100% postintervention competency attainment. Nursing Professional Competence Scale–Short Form scores increased from M = 200.50 to M = 200.92, but the change was not statistically significant, t(11) = 1.10, p = .295. General Self-Efficacy Scale scores remained unchanged (M = 28.00), t(11) = 0.00, p = 1.000. The project demonstrates a feasible approach for linking nursing education with direct competency validation and supporting evidence-based staff development in long-term care.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Recommended Citation
McKnight, Angela, "Implementing an Evidence-based Practice Training Program to Impact Nursing Skills Competency and Self-efficacy in a Long-term Care Facility" (2026). Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects. 391.
https://arch.astate.edu/dnp-projects/391
