J Korean Acad Nurs Adm.  2011 Sep;17(3):301-314.

Development of a Clinical Ladder System for Operating Room Nurses

• Kim H
• Jang KS

Abstract

PURPOSE
This study was a methodological research conducted to develop a clinical ladder system for operating nurses.
METHODS
Participants were 20 OR nurses, working in C Hospital, who had a mean tenure of 6 years and 10 months. Data collection consisted of 4 focus group interviews during May and June 2009. The content analysis method of Kim and Lee (1986) was used to analyze the data. Two clinical expert groups consisting of 16 nurses verified the content validity of the preliminary system from September 16 to 26, 2009 using Kim's tool (1999).
RESULTS
The final clinical ladder system consisted of goals, core values, and 4 domains of practice related to core values, which were defined as professional value, perioperative nursing practice, education/research, and collaboration/leadership. Eleven nursing competencies and 44 behavior indicators were included in accordance with the 4-step ladder. The 4 operation systems for the clinical ladder system were the promotion system, continuous learning system, reward system, and support system.
CONCLUSION
The results indicate that nursing managers need to pay more attention to developing a clinical ladder system for nurses.

Keyword

Nurses; Career mobility; Focus groups

MeSH Terms

Career Mobility
Data Collection
Focus Groups
Learning
Operating Rooms
Perioperative Nursing
Reward

Figure

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  Figure 1 Clinical ladder system structure

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  Figure 2 Final clinical ladder system for operating room nurses *PN : Perioperative Nurse

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