Geriatric nursing competence of clinical nursing staff at different hospital levels in Chongqing, China: A cross-sectional study.

Objectives: This study aimed to survey the geriatric nursing competencies of clinical nursing staff in Chongqing City, China, and provide suggestions to enhance these competencies.

Methods: This study was conducted in 204 hospitals in Southwest China from December 24, 2022 to January 7, 2023. The "Geriatric Nursing Competence of Clinical Nurse Investigation Tool" was used to explore factors that influence geriatric nurses' competencies via stratified sampling. The survey was conducted by distributing and collecting questionnaires through the online platform .

Results: A total of 10,692 nurses answered the questionnaires. Of these questionnaires, 9,442 were valid. The total geriatric nursing competence score of the clinical nursing staff was 2.29 ± 0.81, the secondary hospital score was 2.23 ± 0.78, and the tertiary hospital's overall mean score was 2.33 ± 0.83. The factors that influenced secondary hospitals included the department of medicine, age of nurses and total length of career ( < 0.05). The factors that influenced tertiary hospitals included the department of medicine, age of nurses, nurses' professional title, and geriatric practical advanced nurses' certification ( < 0.05).

Conclusions: Geriatric nursing competence among clinical nursing staff is imbalanced at a lower-middle level and is influenced by various factors. The findings highlight the need for further clinical training in geriatric nursing. The training of geriatric nurses should focus on necessary clinical skills and on preparing them to adequately manage comprehensive geriatric syndromes.