Nursing students frequently believe that they are clinically incompetent. The objective of this study was to identify the effects of alexithymia and patient safety management on the clinical competence of nursing students. A cross-sectional design was used to investigate these relationships among 167 nursing students from two universities in South Korea. A self-reported structured questionnaire was used for alexithymia, patient safety management confidence, and clinical competence. The factors influencing clinical competence were safety education (β = -0.16, p = 0.022), alexithymia (β = -0.14, p = 0.049), and confidence in patient safety management (β = 0.52, p < 0.001). The explanatory power of these three factors was 37.1%, and confidence in patient safety management was found to have the greatest influence on clinical competence. Based on these results, the pursuit of patient safety and the delivery of high-quality care depend not only on the acquisition of clinical skills but also on the emotional competencies and patient safety management confidence of the nursing students.
Keywords: clinical competence; nursing; patient safety; students.