Advancing Nursing Students’ Knowledge, Skills, and Clinical Decision-making Ability on Fetal Well-being: The Impact of the Competency Enhancement Program

Abstract Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of a competency enhancement program (CEP) on fetal well-being in terms of knowledge, skills, and clinical decision-making among B. Sc. Nursing 4 th -year students. Materials and Methods: A quantitative, quasi-experimental study was conducted at M. M. College of Nursing, Mullana, Haryana, using a nonequivalent control group pretest–posttest design. Seventy-two final-year B. Sc. Nursing students were assigned to experimental ( n = 36) and comparison ( n = 36) groups based on existing administrative sections, without random assignment. Both groups underwent pretest and posttest assessments to evaluate knowledge, skills, and clinical decision-making. The CEP was implemented for the experimental group while the comparison group continued routine postings.” The CEP included lectures and real-time nonstress test (NST) demonstrations. Pre- and posttests assessed knowledge, skills ( objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) and non-stress test (NST) checklist), and clinical decision-making (case-based tool). Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: Posttest scores significantly improved in the experimental group compared to the comparison group in knowledge (28.19 ± 2.44 vs. 17.61 ± 5.09), skills (25.97 ± 4.36 vs. 8.83 ± 1.92), and clinical decision-making ability (17.11 ± 1.93 vs. 7.50 ± 1.92), with P < 0.01 in all domains. Strongest gains were observed in the areas of identification (96.29%) and interpretation/management (86.13%). Significant correlations were found between knowledge and clinical decision-making ( r = 0.23, P = 0.04) and skills and decision-making ( r = 0.24, P = 0.04). Conclusion: The findings suggest that the CEP significantly improved nursing students’ competencies related to fetal well-being, as reflected in their postintervention scores.