Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Clinical competence is the cornerstone of quality healthcare, influenced by various factors including age and gender in the clinical experience of nursing students. These factors can impact the acquisition, retention, clinical skills application, and readiness for professional roles. OBJECTIVE: The study assessed gender and age differentials on competence level in nursing practice among nursing students in a tertiary institution in Nigeria. METHOD: The study employed a descriptive cross-sectional study design. Thirty-three nursing students at 300 levels of academic learning participated in this study using a purposive sampling technique. Clinical Experience Questionnaire and Clinical Competency Questionnaire were used to collect data from respondents. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS version 23 and summarized using descriptive (frequencies, counts, and percentages) and inferential (ANOVA) statistics with the level of significance set at p < .05. RESULTS: The result of this study revealed that the majority (81.8%) of the respondents were between the age range of 20 and 24 years, and most (87.9%) of the participants were female. The competence of the students varies from high to moderate to low. The findings further showed that gender significantly predicts competencies (p < .05), with female nursing students having higher clinical competence. However, age does not significantly affect the clinical competence of nursing students. CONCLUSION: This study shows the significance of gender on nursing students' clinical competence level in clinical practice. Understanding the impact of gender influence on clinical competence can inform educational strategies and supportive learning experiences fostering male inclusion and retention in the nursing discipline.