Abstract
Keywords
Introduction
Nursing competencies have been approached through different studies as an assessment tool to verify the acquisition of homogeneous training that ensures safety and quality of care by new professionals. This enables, in a specific context, to identify models that ensure suitable professional training levels or detecting the areas that require adopting specific educational programmes. 1 This fact is of special interest for nurses and also for health managers, who can implement educational measures that develop and ensure quality care in the different health services, promoting synergies between the different health team members. 2 The critical care nurses need to know what dimensions make up the reality of their training in a reliable and valid way. 3
However, it must be taken into account that acquiring skills is no guarantee for success, but a proven ability to carry out activities for which a certain level of training is required. In this sense, the acquisition of generic competencies enhances the employability of graduates, 4 but it must be considered that in certain healthcare environments, such as critical care areas, professionals show a deficit in certain specific and disciplinary competencies.5,6 To achieve these, different training programmes have been developed for ICU nurses to ensure care according to needs required by critical patients5–7. The possibility of professional development and the opportunity to receive specific training for critical care areas are an attraction that makes it easier to attract and retain nurses and preserve their loyalty. 8
For this reason, the European Federation of Critical Care Nurse Association (EfCCNa) has developed a series of international consensus documents to ensure common training requirements, within the different domains that nurses incorporate in their daily practice, to treat the patient holistically. 9
The effectiveness of critical care training is proven by studies that endorse the need for quality care. 10 Therefore, it is necessary to be able to validate instruments that make it possible to assess the training needs of nurses in their different professional fields.11,12 To this end, scales have been validated through psychometric studies using factor analysis13–15. These analyses enable to compare nursing populations and help to create a reality on which to develop specific competencies in each particular area. 16
In the specific case of the ICU, being able to rely on properly trained nurses is of great interest, not only for them as a disciplinary group, but also for health managers who can thus ensure that care is being provided on the basis of the best scientific evidence available, adapting the skills, capacities and abilities of their own staff to obtain the best care results. 14
Therefore, our research has the purpose to validate a questionnaire that detects the training needs of intensive care nurses in Spain.
Methods
Design
A cross-sectional descriptive study, conducted on a national level, using an electronic questionnaire. This study was distributed to 85 ICUs belonging to 79 hospital centres in Spain.
Sample/ participants
The analysis of the centres and ICU nurses in each unit was previously collected to calculate the sample size. The number of nurses in each unit was provided by the collaborators. Total population of nurses in the participant units was 2965. After performing the calculations through an excel database, this determined the need to collect at least 500 valid questionnaires to ensure a significance level of 95% with a 4% margin of error. In order to determine the sample size, we also followed the conditions established by Lloret-Segura et al. 17 for factorial analysis. Therefore, a sample of at least 200 questionnaires was necessary to be able to perform an adequate factor analysis. For both the Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis, the sample was randomly divided 50/50.
Data collection
The questionnaire was distributed by the collaborators of each centre included in the project during the period from 31st October 2017 to 31st October 2018.
Instrument
The questionnaire was adapted and validated by a group of experts who used a modified Delphi method. 18 This instrument consisted of 66 items which explored, on the one hand, the four EfCCNa domains (Clinical domain (18 items), Professional domain (14 items), Management domain (16 items) and Educational and Development domain (6 items). On the other hand, the method consisted of a section on staff training for ICU (12 items). The nurses’ training needs were checked by means of a Likert type scale (1 to 10 points), on which the value of 1 represented “unimportant, or in disagreement with the statement given” and the value of 10 stood for “very important or totally in agreement with the statement given”.
Moreover, social and demographic variables were incorporated (age, gender, years of work experience, academic level); the characteristics of the hospital centres (type of management, relation with the university, number of hospital beds), and of the organisation of the ICU (type of ICU, number of beds, nurse-to-patient ratio). The support for the online distribution of the survey was the Google form platform. Each part of the questionnaire was written in its own section. The questionnaire was pre-tested to verify that there were no comprehension problems with the items. The steps followed in the research are shown in Figure 1.

Investigation procedure.
Ethical considerations
The study was conducted following the ethical and legal principles of biomedical research 14/2007 and the EU regulation 2016/679 on confidentiality. The ethical committee of the main researcher authorised the study with the code Las Palmas: 2018-080-1/1016. In addition, 15 centres requested approval from their own ethical committees of the investigation. Each centre authorised the distribution of the questionnaire among their nurses by requesting their prior consent while ensuring the anonymity of the participants.
Inclusion and exclusion criteria
Accept affirmatively the informed consent expressed at the beginning of the questionnaire. Since it was explored through an electronic questionnaire and with the aim of ensuring non-automatic responses, two control questions were included throughout the questionnaire. After items 22 and 43, the control questions were included. After items 22 was worded as follows: “If you are filling in this survey accurately, please tick answer five in this item (control question)”. After question 43, it had the same wording but, in this question, we requested that answer number 3 was ticked.
Statistical analysis
In order to explore the dimensions and determine their factorial structure, an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was carried out using polychoric matrices. These matrices arise from the fact that there are latent variables or common factors that explain the answers of a test. 19 The extraction method used was Unweighted Least Squares (ULS) with Promin rotation and the optimal factor implementation was developed through the Parallel Analysis (PA) method. 20 To increase the accuracy of the questionnaire, items with factor saturation below 0.40 were removed. Internal consistency and content validity were maintained at all times, and at least 3 items per factor were ensured to be considered a valid response. For the labelling of each factor, the link between all elements that constitute each factor was maintained. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olsen Index (KMO), Bartlett's Sphericity and Kelly Criterion (KC) tests of suitability were applied. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was performed using the Unweighted Least Squares (ULS) test and the following goodness-of-fit measures were applied: Chi-Square values with respect to the experimental factor Χ2/df, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA), Comparative Fit Index (CFI) and the Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI), as suggested by other studies. 21
The statistical treatment was carried out using the statistical programmes Factor Analysis 10.9.02 and IBM AMOS version 24.
Validity and reliability
Cronbach′s alpha values in these kind of studies are reported to be between 0.78 and 0.91, 13 0.80–0.91 22 and 0.78–0.91. 12 In the present study, which is a novel analysis of the Spanish reality where this kind of study has not been previously carried out. We have considered important to give confidence and replicability to the study to incorporate the general and ordinal Cronbach's alpha of the general construct and the factorials individually. For the analysis of individual reliability, we used the standardised estimators and for internal consistency: Cronbach's alpha and composite reliability; in addition to the Average Variance Extracted (AVE). This study was performed in Spanish. To guarantee the rigour of this study, a professional translator carried out the translation process of all the sections of this research.
Results
A total of 630 questionnaires were received, of which 62 were excluded due to failing some of the control questions. Therefore, the sample consisted of 568 questionnaires. The characteristics of the participant nurses are shown in Table 1. Women comprised the majority with a total of 426 nurses (81.30%), and 409 (72%) being over 36 years old. Of the nurses consulted, 52.11%, i.e. 296, had only a nursing degree certificate, and the rest had several postgraduate studies. 76.05% (432) reported a total work experience as nurses of > 11 years, while 376 nurses (66.20%) had > 6 years’ experience in ICUs. The majority worked in publicly managed hospitals 520 (91.54%), 491 nurses worked in university hospitals (86.44%) and 287 nurses (50.33%) worked in hospital centres with over 500 beds.
Exploratory Factor Analysis.
Participants characteristics.
Note: Results expressed in frequency and percentage. yo = years old.
The sample was randomly divided into two groups (n = 284), one used for the EFA and the other for the CFA, with no significant differences between the two groups in demographic variables such as gender or age. Thus, in the EFA, the PA indicated that the number of factors greater than the unit corresponded to a factorial solution of 13 factors for the 66 items studied. As shown in Table 2, where the EFA data are included, the KMO Index and Bartlett's Sphericity suggest that the dimensionality of the scale should be reduced. The EFA values also determined correct internal consistency values with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.934. The GFI gives appropriate values, and when comparing the RMSR it was lower than the KC value. This finding indicates an appropriate model (see table 2).
Results of the exploratory factor analysis.
Note: COM = communalities FAC = Factorial. Extraction method: Unweighted Least Squares (ULS). Rotation Method: Promin. In bold, higher factor loadings per factor.
The aforementioned indicated that the factorial matrix generated with 65 of the 66 items of the original questionnaire had loadings greater than ≥0.40, each of them obtaining at least 3 items. Thus, we observed that FAC1 was explained through 10 items, and factors 8 to 13 through 3 items. Only one item of 66 did not match correctly in any factorial. This item was question 22 (P22): “ICU nurses have a lot of autonomy, so it is necessary to get formal training appropriate to the job position”. This item was not included in the analysis.
The final model established by the EFA is shown in Table 2. They consist of 65 items, which have been named according to the common characteristics of each one of the items that make up each factor. The internal consistency of each factor separately was reflected by the ordinal alpha applied to each of the detected items.
23
Thus, despite the existence of appropriate Cronbach's alpha and total ordinal alpha, we have detected the existence of three factors that have an ordinal alpha lower than 0.7. On the other hand, we obtain 10 factors with a consistency higher than this value.(see table 3)
(b) Confirmatory Factor Analysis.
Groupings of dimensions detected in the EFA, proposed by the authors.
The other half of the sample (n = 284) was used to contrast the findings of the EFA, and to indicate whether it was equally applicable to the rest of the nursing population. For this purpose, a CFA was carried out, which needed to be filtered by eliminating items with factor loadings lower than 0.5, provided that two items remained that were explanatory for each latent variable. After the analysis of numerous models, it was noted that the one with the best statistical values was the solution with 10 factors and 33 variables (see Figure 2). The CFA value showed a value of χ2 = 8952 with a CMIN/DF ratio = 2.780. The CFI of the generated model was 0.883 and the TLI reached 0.830. These values fall short of the ideal values which are ≥0.90 in both cases. However, the RMSEA value was 0.055 with a 95% confidence interval of (0.052–0.059). This value is considered reasonable in this type of study as the values obtained were ≤0.08. 21 Despite the approximation generated, other factors must be considered that influence our subjects' responses to their needs as ICU nurses.

Confirmatory factor analysis. Method: Unweighted Least Squares (ULS).
Table 4 shows the covariances of each of the latent variables and their relation with the other variables in a pairwise comparison. These data are also shown in Figure 2.
Covariances between latent variables in the CFA.
Note: F1SK: Skills in critical patient care; F2CS: Communication and Clinical Safety; F3CR: Nursing knowledge and clinical reasoning; F4FN: Induction programmes for new nurses; F5FS: Specific and ongoing training of staff nurses; F7EV: Critical patient assessment, tools and technology; F8GT: Health management; F9SV = Applying support measures; F11MJ: Measures to improve care; F12MT: Motivation to continue with the training. ** p ≤ 0.01 *p ≤ 0.05.
In order to be able to assess the final results of the CFA, and despite not having appropriate goodness of fit values - although reasonable according to the literature - it is important to provide data on composite reliability and internal consistency in the CFAs that include a correlation matrix of ordinal data. Composite reliability gives us information between the items and the latent variable measured, and an appropriate value is considered to be above 0.7, which means that 6 of the 10 factors have appropriate values. In contrast, the Average Variance Extracted (AVE) indicates the value of the variance of the extracted construct; all values obtain appropriate values greater than 0.5. It should be noted that the removal of variables to refine the model has caused the model's Cronbach's alpha to fall below 0.7 in several latent variables (Table 5).
Internal consistency of the results of the confirmatory factor analysis.
Discussion
This study aims at detecting the underlying dimensions behind the training needs of Spanish nurses through the findings of previous studies.18,24 The fact of having achieved the participation of a significant number of ICUs throughout the national territory gives it the possibility of detecting common characteristics of the training needs of ICU nurses. A large proportion of the participants had significant experience both as nurses in other settings and in the ICU.
The EFA has enabled us to detect areas of consensus among the 66 items explored in the questionnaire. The use of Oblique Rotation and Parallel Analysis determined the need to extract 13 factors from the data provided.17,25 The explained variance in the EFA is greater than 64%, which supports the findings obtained with appropriate goodness-of-fit requirements. 19 Internal consistency, with appropriate levels of Cronbach's alpha, indicates that the EFA has been able to maintain an appropriate structure of the detected components.19,20
The components detected confirm the need for training in certain fields of critical care nursing, included in table 3. Previous studies focusing on competency acquisition report very similar areas of consensus.26,27 If we focus on the fields of the EfCCNA which were used to create the questionnaire, 9 we observe the presence of specific areas included in the sub-domains as needs of the actual Spanish nurses.
In addition, two elements are noteworthy. The first is the incorporation into the dimensions detected of the specific training of new nurses in the ICU, which has also been studied in other studies.28,29 The second is the detection of elements that encourage nurses to train, such as improvement of care, motivation and the impact of training, which other authors have quoted. 8
The items detected could be grouped into (authors′suggestion):
And the
The need to acquire specific knowledge for ICU through training has been studied by different authors who have implemented training focused on nursing skills and interventions in order to adapt to the needs that are required at any given moment.
30
Communication and clinical safety are closely related elements, as also recognised by other research
31
The critical thinking they must apply is an element that underlies other studies and which they link with the complexity of the care required by critical patients.
32
According to the bibliography consulted, nurses detect a progressive and continuous need to adapt to the requirements that the very essence of critical care requires of them.
33
There is a need to implement, at all times, care based on the latest scientific evidence.
33
This improved care must be approached from the set of needs detected by nurses and noted in our findings.
This first approach in the Spanish health system environment has given us the possibility of detecting similarities with previous factor analyses in other health environments.14,26,34 The findings confirm the need to continue detecting the training needs of nurses in order to create specific training for this context.
The CFA, despite the filtering performed in the model, does not reach values considered ideal.17,21 We note results that tend to be close to these ideal values in terms of the explained variance and the suitability analyses carried out 19 (table 5). Composite reliability and AVE shows higher values than those considered ideal. This fact should be sufficient to assess the overall construct to decide which areas of consensus can be included as items to have higher factor loadings that could improve our current findings.
Limitations of the study
This study may have been limited by its structure. Firstly, the survey was conducted online. We controlled the survey dissemination through the contributors of each centre. The number of responses from each ICU may have been influenced by the charisma of each partner. Secondly, as a cross-sectional study, responses may have been influenced by the personal situation of each nurse at the time of filling the survey.
The achievement of acceptable values according to the methodology used would allow us, in future research, to achieve a better model that would guide the adoption of specific training programmes for critical care nurses in Spain.
Conclusions
The outcomes of the present study show the specific needs of nurses in Spanish critical care units. These findings must be taken into account when health institutions organise training activities that guarantee homogeneous abilities and skills. Health organisations must pay special attention to the importance that nurses recognise their critical care skills, communication and safety and critical thinking.
Nurses as central elements of ICU care take a leading role in assessing, monitoring, implementing and evaluating therapeutic measures that are unique to this healthcare setting. Training needs are associated with the increased complexity of the care they have to deal with on a daily basis. This study shows us the factors that should be included in the different training strategies that societies and institutions can carry out in this field. Moreover, it allows the validation of an instrument from which to start in order to adapt the training of intensive care nurses to the clinical reality. There is a need for further development of the instrument; especially,it should continually considered adding those activities that ensure the best care for critically ill patients.
Supplemental Material
sj-docx-1-sci-10.1177_00368504221076823 - Supplemental material for The training needs of critical care nurses: A psychometric analysis
Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-sci-10.1177_00368504221076823 for The training needs of critical care nurses: A psychometric analysis by Yeray Gabriel Santana-Padilla, María Desamparados Bernat-Adell and Luciano Santana-Cabrera in Science Progress
Supplemental Material
sj-doc-2-sci-10.1177_00368504221076823 - Supplemental material for The training needs of critical care nurses: A psychometric analysis
Supplemental material, sj-doc-2-sci-10.1177_00368504221076823 for The training needs of critical care nurses: A psychometric analysis by Yeray Gabriel Santana-Padilla, María Desamparados Bernat-Adell and Luciano Santana-Cabrera in Science Progress
Supplemental Material
sj-docx-3-sci-10.1177_00368504221076823 - Supplemental material for The training needs of critical care nurses: A psychometric analysis
Supplemental material, sj-docx-3-sci-10.1177_00368504221076823 for The training needs of critical care nurses: A psychometric analysis by Yeray Gabriel Santana-Padilla, María Desamparados Bernat-Adell and Luciano Santana-Cabrera in Science Progress
Footnotes
Acknowledgements
Declaration of conflicting interests
Funding
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Author biographies
References
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