The Relationship Between on-Site Clinical Practice, Nursing Professional Value, and Nursing Clinical Self-Efficacy During Covid-19: A Cross-Sectional Study [Letter]

Dear editor

I have perused the study titled “The Relationship Between On-Site Clinical Practice, Nursing Professional Value, and Nursing Clinical Self-Efficacy During Covid-19: A Cross-Sectional Study” authored by Lee et al, which was published in the Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare. I want to express my gratitude to the authors for their accomplished article and provide a few contributions. Regarding the strengths of this study: (1) Clinical practice in the laboratory is equally effective as clinical practice. Hence, universities should provide representative laboratories for student practicum. (2) The nursing education environment and hospital significantly affect nursing students’ professional values and self-efficacy. Thus, it is imperative to structure laboratory exercises to provide feedback, enabling students to attain proficiency in nursing skills through consistent practicum and direct experience in hospital practice.¹

Nevertheless, this study identified numerous constraints: (1) The cross-sectional research design required to be revised to establish a causal relationship and did not offer a comprehensive understanding of professional values and clinical self-efficacy in nursing practice. (2) Data collection was conducted through an online questionnaire, which may introduce bias into the gathering process. This is because the questionnaire is completed without direct oversight, making it challenging to ascertain the sincerity and comprehension of the respondents (3) An interpretation bias may exist because measurements were collected from 3 October to 6 November 2022. Clinical practice and theory were conducted between 2020 and 2022, accommodating deviations that do not accurately represent objective reality. (4) Consideration of the imbalanced distribution of samples, with a significantly higher proportion of women (79.1%) compared to men (20.9%). Given that women comprise over 75% of the research sample, the findings indicate significant gender diversity. (5) The study was exclusively conducted on three nursing practices: medical-surgical nursing, paediatric nursing, and maternity nursing. Concerning the period from 2020 to 2022, it is unclear why only these three nursing practices were carried out and not others (eg, emergency nursing, community nursing, or psychiatric nursing).

In order to obtain more effective outcomes, it is advisable to perform further research by (1) Gathering data through more objective methods such as in-depth interviews or focus group discussions, enabling more precise inquiries, acquisition of clarification, and examination of the experiences and perspectives of nursing students. (2) Managing confounding factors or achieving a more equitable distribution of genders. (3) Incorporating an experimental or longitudinal design to strengthen cause-and-effect relationship analysis. (4) Broaden the scope of the research sample and engage participants from various levels to obtain a more comprehensive understanding.

In conclusion, this study significantly enhances nursing education and facilitates efficient clinical practice, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.