Introduction: Competencies form the framework of skills that reflect knowledge, attitudes, and psychosocial as well as psychomotor elements. Demonstrating competencies at a high-level enables professionals to perform their work safely and effectively, and reduces the incidence of errors, which is particularly important in healthcare. Nursing competencies guide curriculum development and help nursing staff adhere to established standards. A higher level of competencies in the workplace also helps to staff turnover. Many young workers lack sufficient competencies to provide safe and effective nursing care at the beginning of their careers. Purpose: The aim of the thesis was to determine, through an original investigation, the level of competencies of young nursing employees and nursing students nearing the end of their studies in Slovenia. Methods: In the thesis, a quantitative research method was applied using an anonymous questionnaire distributed via the 1KA online platform. The study included 95 young nursing employees and nursing students at the end of their undergraduate and postgraduate studies from health faculties in Slovenia. The questionnaire included a self-assessment of competencies based on the Nursing Competence Scale, which we translated from English using a triple translation method. Data analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics 29, with descriptive statistics, an independent samples t-test, and Pearson's chi-square test to examine the independence of two variables. The validity of the measurement was assessed using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Results: We found that young nursing employees demonstrate an average/satisfactory level of competencies that is statistically significantly higher than that of nursing students. However, there are no statistically significant differences between employed and unemployed nursing students. The lowest-rated competency category overall was nursing management and organization. In addition, despite the small sample size, statistically significant differences in the self-assessed competencies were found in all categories between students who participated in foreign exchange programs and those who did not. Discussion and conclusion: Our study shows that most students and young nursing employees in Slovenia feel average/satisfactorily competent for their work. To achieve above-average results, education systems could introduce innovations from higher-rated foreign countries and promote exchange programs that have been shown to improve competencies. Collaboration between employers and educational institutions in the field of nursing should also be strengthened. The results also suggest that the skills of students and young employees should be regularly assessed in the future and possibly a longitudinal study should be conducted.
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