The relationship among academic achievement, clinical competence, and confidence in clinical performance of nursing students

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine relationships between academic achievement, clinical competence, and confidence in the clinical performance of nursing students, and to identify factors that influence them. Methods: This was a descriptive correlation study. Data were collected from 118 nursing students at a nursing college in Seoul. One-way variance analysis, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and multiple linear regression analysis were used to examine relationships between academic achievement, clinical competence, and confidence in clinical performance. Results: Clinical competence was related to academic achievement in students’ previous semester and to students’ academic scores in a fundamental of nursing course. Clinical competence showed a weak positive correlation with academic achievement in students’ previous semester and academic scores in a fundamental of nursing course in both evaluations by the professor and students’ self-evaluations. However, confidence in clinical performance had no significant correlation with academic achievement. The factor affecting the clinical competence was academic scores in a fundamental of nursing course, and factors affecting confidence in clinical performance were health status, personality, major suitability, and class satisfaction in a fundamental of nursing skills course. Conclusion: These findings indicate that students with high academic achievement have better clinical performance, but confidence in clinical performance is not related to academic achievement.