LAUSR

The conceptions of what constitutes nursing competence and how such competence is taught and learned are changing, due to rapid changes in in the health sector. Nurse teachers’ competencies for providing high-quality, up-to-date nursing education, are developing accordingly. This paper reviews the existing research on nurse teachers’ competencies and addresses how this research identifies, describes, and conceptualizes these competencies. A rigorous search, retrieval and appraisal process identified 25 relevant studies for inclusion in the review. A thematic synthesis was applied to the findings of the studies and subsequent themes were synthesized. The thematic synthesis of the empirical evidence resulted in the five broad themes: academic, nursing, and pedagogical competencies; attitudes; management and digital technology. However, these separate elements appeared to be highly integrated. Hence, this paper indicates that nurse teachers’ competencies may be assessed using a holistic approach, which could bring together the disparate attributes required for successful professional performance in specific situations.