5.1 Reliability of Delphi expert consultation results
In this study, a total of 30 experts engaged in clinical infectious disease treatment and nursing work participated in Delphi consultation who came from 8 different provinces and cities in China, which ensured the results were objective and would not be affected by the region. The consulting experts had been engaged in infectious diseases for more than 15 years, who had rich experience in clinical infectious diseases, and were familiar with the research contents. The authority coefficient of this research was 0.923, which showed that it had good authority. The response rates of the two rounds of expert consultation were 93.75% and 100% respectively, indicating that they had high enthusiasm. The Kendall's concordance coefficient of the two rounds of consultation were statistically significant, and the results of the evaluation index system of core competence of infectious disease specialist nurses were reliable.
5.2Importance of evaluation index system of core competence of infectious disease specialist nurses
Infectious disease specialist nurses are the backbone of infectious disease nursing. Their core competence is related to the work quality, service level and team development of infectious disease nursing. At present, there is no research on the core competence index system of infectious disease specialist nurses, so the definition of the core competence of infectious disease specialist nurses is not clear. In the context of the New Coronavirus disease and the increasing number of new infectious diseases (Tanzi, Alquati, Martucci, & De Panfilis, 2020; Xue, Cao, & Wan, 2021), speeding up the training of infectious disease specialist nurses and clarifying their core competencies will help standardize the work of infectious disease nursing, improve the quality of nursing services, and prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Therefore, it is of great practical significance to construct the evaluation index system of core competence of infectious disease specialist nurses.
5.3Comprehensiveness of evaluation index system of core competence of infectious disease specialist nurses
5.3.1 Nursing Abilities for infectious diseases
Infectious diseases are susceptible, transmissible, widespread and harmful (Keesing et al., 2010; Kiely et al., 2017). The management of infectious diseases is the basic responsibility of specialist nurses, and also one of the most important core competencies. In this study, the weight coefficient of infectious disease nursing ability was 0.169, ranking second in the first level indicators, only to the ability of infection prevention and control capabilities, indicating that this ability is highly recognized by experts and very important. Infectious disease specialist nurses should be familiar with the knowledge of infectious diseases and commonly used drugs. They should be able to formulate corresponding nursing plans in response to different infectious disease patients and implement different nursing measures accordingly. At the same time, specialist nurses should also master first-aid nursing methods for patients with infectious diseases, make clear the requirements of specimen collection and the terminal treatment methods for patients with infectious diseases.
5.3.2 Infection Prevention and Control Capabilities
Infection prevention and control ability is the most important core ability of infectious disease specialist nurses, and it is an important guarantee of continuous work (Cho & Chung, 2017; Fadare, Akpor, Ifechukwude, Richard, & Bello, 2020; Tschudin-Sutter et al., 2018). It is reported that the risk of infectious diseases of nurses in infectious diseases department is much higher than that of ordinary clinical nurses (Fadare et al., 2020). The importance of infection prevention and control ability in this study ranked the first, with the weight coefficient of 0.172. The secondary indexes were safety protection capabilities and disinfection and quarantine skills, with safety protection capabilities as the largest weight. In the clinical infectious disease nursing work, nurses in the infectious disease department should put self-protection in the first place.
5.3.3 Capabilities in Response to Infectious Disease
The capabilities in response to infectious disease of infectious disease specialist nurses refers to the ability of emergency rescue and nursing in public health emergencies. Public health emergencies of infectious diseases spread widely, spread rapidly and do great harm (Morens & Fauci, 2020). Therefore, as a specialist nurse of infectious diseases, it is necessary to have the ability of emergency response and the ability to predict the emergency of infectious diseases. In their daily work, they need to master the reporting time limit of legal infectious diseases, and be familiar with the reporting and drilling process and relevant regulations of public health emergencies of infectious diseases. In the clinical nursing work of New Coronavirus disease, infectious disease specialist nurses played an important role in the outbreak of disease (Lee & Lee, 2020).
5.3.4 Professional Development Capabilities
Infectious disease nursing is a profession that keeps pace with the times. Facing the continuous variation and evolution of the virus, the specialist nurse needs to have the ability of professional development. The ability ‘to train other nurses in face of emerging infectious diseases emergencies’ and ‘to improve and innovate on infectious disease nursing process and protective articles’ accounted for the largest weight, which were 0.022. In public health emergencies of infectious diseases, it is of great significance for infectious disease specialist nurses to help ordinary nurses to work quickly according to the standardized training process, so as to enhance and expand the nursing reserve force (Lam, Kwong, Hung, & Chien, 2020; Tan et al., 2020) and innovation is an important driving force to promote clinical nursing work (Albert, 2018). At the same time, as a specialist nurse of infectious diseases, it is also necessary to master the frontier dynamic knowledge, have the ability of further teaching and learning, and promote the professional development and the improvement of their own ability.
5.3.5 Communication and Management Capabilities
In clinical nursing work, good communication and management skills are essential (Curtis et al., 2013; Grubaugh & Flynn, 2018). Due to the particularity of patients with infectious diseases, they are more sensitive, so in the process of communication with patients with infectious diseases or their families, nurses should pay attention to the skills, contents and methods of communication (Gaur et al., 2020). In the second level indicators, the score of management ability accounts the highest. Specialist nurses are different from ordinary nurses. They need not only master basic nursing skills, but also assume the role of a manager.
5.3.6 Professionalism and Humanistic Accomplishment
Since infectious disease nursing work confronted with infectious diseases patients, the work is of a certain degree of risks. Therefore, infectious disease specialist nurses should have good professional humanistic accomplishment. They must recognize the occupation identity of infectious disease nursing work. Infectious disease nursing work is a high-risk occupation (Maltezou et al., 2020), so the nurses should have good self-adjusting ability to release the pressure of infectious disease nursing work. In the process of communication with infectious diseases patients, they should respect and treat everyone equally.