A Tiered Training Program for Emergency Nurses’ Core Competencies Based on Kolb’s Learning Cycle: A Delphi Study

Background: Emergency nursing requires advanced competencies, yet current training in China lacks theoretical grounding and career alignment. Based on Kolb’s experiential learning theory, this study develops a tiered core-competency program corresponding to nurses’ professional stages (N1–N4), aiming to foster systematic training and sustainable workforce development. Methods: A mixed-methods research design was employed. First, a preliminary draft of the training program was developed through systematic literature review and semi-structured interviews. Subsequently, from September to November 2025, 18 experts with over 10 years of emergency nursing experience from four provinces were invited to participate in two rounds of Delphi expert consultation. A Likert 5-point scale was used to evaluate the importance of program items, with consensus criteria set as follows: mean importance score ≥4.0, coefficient of variation ≤0.25, and agreement rate (score ≥4) ≥75%. The expert positivity, authority coefficient, and opinion coordination degree were evaluated through questionnaire recovery rate, authority coefficient (Cr), and Kendall's coefficient of concordance (Kendall's W), respectively. Results: The effective recovery rates of both rounds of expert consultation questionnaires were 100%, with expert authority coefficients of 0.913 and 0.917, indicating the credibility of the consultation results. After two rounds of revisions, a final training program was developed, comprising 5 first-level indicators, 15 second-level indicators, and 48 third-level indicators. All indicators achieved high consensus, and the program systematically integrated the learning cycle of Kolb's experiential learning theory with the competency advancement pathway for competency advancement from novice (N1) to expert (N4) levels. Conclusion: This study successfully established China's first emergency nursing core competency tiered training program based on Kolb's Learning Cycle theory, spanning the entire career trajectory of nurses. The program demonstrates both systematic design and operational feasibility, providing not only a scientific framework for standardized training, competency certification, and continuous professional development of emergency nurses, but also offering theoretical foundations and practical guidelines for sustainable workforce development in emergency nursing.