Priority analysis of educational needs related to geriatric nursing competence among Chinese undergraduate nursing students: Application of Borich needs assessment, importance-performance analysis and locus for focus model.

Aim: This study aimed to assess and identify the priority of educational needs for geriatric nursing competence among Chinese undergraduate nursing students.

Background: The increased aging population puts new challenges in geriatric nursing care. Competence in geriatric nursing is essential for nursing students to be well-equipped to be qualified nurses in their future work to meet the growing demand for geriatric nursing. However, research on the educational needs of geriatric nursing competence among nursing students is limited.

Design: A descriptive study with online questionnaire surveys was conducted.

Methods: The Geriatric Nursing Competence Scale for Clinical Nurses was used to measure nursing undergraduate students' perception of the importance and performance of geriatric nursing competence. Borich'sNeeds Assessment, Important-Performance Analysis (IPA) and the Locus for focus (LF)model were used to analyze thepriorityinnursingstudents' educational needs of geriatric nursing competence.

Results: Items related to geriatric nursing competence had lower performance than importance, emphasizing the need for education. The results showed that three items in the professional practice competence and three items in professional development competence were determined to be the highest priority items by ranking the top 10 in Borich's Needs Assessment and located in the highly important but had low-performance quadrant of IPA and fell within the high-discrepancy and high-importance quadrant of the LF model simultaneously.

Conclusions: The priorities of educational needs for geriatric nursing competence among undergraduate nursing students identified in this study provide a reference for effective educational planning and innovation.