ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Competency denotes the ability to execute a certain task or action with the necessary knowledge. Competency definitions and measurements are challenging for nursing and other professions due to their multidimensional aspects. This study aimed to clarify the concept of competency in nursing practice and propose an accurate definition. DESIGN: Walker and Avant's approach was used to elucidate the concept of competency in nursing practice. DATA SOURCES: ScienceDirect, PubMed, ProQuest, Scopus and CINAHL were searched from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2021. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: We included studies with the keywords: "concept analysis", "competence", "competency" and "nursing". The search was limited to full-text studies written in English that used theoretical and empirical approaches. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS: We extracted the concept's uses, defining attributes, and the consequences and antecedents of the concept. RESULTS: 60 articles were identified from the search process; after excluding duplicates and works unrelated to the study aim and context following the full-text screening, 10 articles were included in this concept analysis. The common defining attributes of competency were knowledge, self-assessment and dynamic state. Competency in nursing practice had many reported positive consequences that include but are not limited to improved patient, nurse and organisational outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Nurses can benefit from the result of this analysis in practice to implement professional care, in particular clinical contexts and situations to enhance patients' health.
Subject(s)
Nursing , Professional Competence , HumansABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Despitecardiac cachexia being a prevalent health problem among heart failure (HF) patients, it has been given little attention by nursing researchers. Therefore, this study aims to conduct a systematic review that investigates cardiac cachexia among patients with HF. METHODOLOGY: A systematic review will be performed according to the PRISMA guidelines to assess the findings of twelve selected studies which meet the inclusion criteria of the systematic review research. The selected articles were published between 2000 and 2020 across three databases: PubMed, CINAHL, and MEDLINE. RESULTS: In comparison to cancer cachexia, cardiac cachexia has been insufficiently studied and is poorly understood. No definitive diagnostic method for cardiac cachexia has been identified in the literature. Age, smoking, and hypertension have been reported to be risk factors for cardiac cachexia. Cardiac cachexia has been significantly associated with lethal structural changes in the heart and has been measured using anthropometric measures and laboratory biomarkers. A combination of pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatments has been effectively implemented to manage cardiac cachexia. CONCLUSION: A focused multidisciplinary approachthat takes culture into consideration is required to set a variety of assessment and interventional strategies for the early detection and proper management of cardiac cachexia.
