Background:Clinical competency is one of the most important requirements in nursing profession, based on which nurses are assessed. To obtain an effective and improved form of clinical competency, several factors are observed and monitored by the health educational systems. Among these observed factors, spiritual intelligence is considered as one of the most significant factors in nurses’ success and efficacy. In this study, it is aimed to determine the spiritual intelligence status and its relationship with clinical competency.Materials and Methods:The descriptive–correlational research was carried out on 250 nurses in Mashhad educational hospitals, selected by multi-stage sampling. Demographic, clinical competency, and spiritual intelligence questionnaires were used for data collection and 212 questionnaires were analyzed.Results:About 53.3% of nurses obtained above average scores in spiritual intelligence. Clinical competency was evaluated by both self-evaluation and head nurse evaluation methods. Most nurses (53.8%) were having good level of clinical competency based on self-evaluation, 48.2% were at average level based on head nurse evaluation, and 53.3% were at average level based on overall score. A significant correlation was found between spiritual intelligence and clinical competency.Conclusions:In this study, the positive significant correlation between nurses’ spiritual intelligence and their clinical competency is investigated. Because of the positive effects of spiritual intelligence on nurses’ clinical competency and quality of care, it is recommended to develop nurses’ spiritual intelligence during their education and by way of continuous medical education.

Background: Self-learning module (SLM) is designed for independent learning. In this study, the hypothesis that SLM is effective to some extent in improving clinical competence in nursing students was tested. Materials and Methods: The study employed a randomized controlled design. In this study, 46 nursing students were randomized into the control or intervention group. Study tools included a demographic information form and nursing skills checklist. Unlike the control group, the intervention group received clinical SLM. Nursing students' clinical competency was measured at the end of the intervention through objective structured clinical examination. Statistical analysis was performed in SPSS software. A p value < 0.050 was considered statistically significant. Results: In total, 46 students participated in this study. The Mean (SD) age of the study participants was 18.80 (1.06) years. There was a significant difference in students' clinical competency between the control and intervention groups (Mann–Whitney U -test: p = 0.010). Mean (SD) of clinical competency in the control and SLM groups was 58.19 (6.41) and 62.83 (6.05), respectively. Results of the group equivalency test indicated that all demographic variables were equivalent between the groups. Moreover, there was no significant difference between women and men in terms of clinical competency. Conclusions: According to the results, the use of SLM could help the students enhance the quality of nursing clinical competency.

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Purpose:Healthcare staff educate nursing students during their clerkships at community health nursing programs. Their teaching methods play an important role in nursing students’ acquisition of competencies; however, these methods have not been studied thoroughly. Thus, this study aims to describe, interpret, and understand the experiences of healthcare staff’s teaching methods in clerkships at a community health nursing program. Methods:This study was conducted using purposeful sampling and semi-structured interviews with 13 members of the staff of three urban healthcare centers in Iran. The data were analyzed through qualitative content analysis and thematic analysis. Results:Multiplicity of teaching was identified as the main category of teaching method, and the five subcategories were teaching through lecture, demonstration, doing, visits and field trips, and readiness. The most common method used by the healthcare staff was lecturing. Conclusion:The healthcare staff used multiple methods to teach students in the nursing clerkship of the community health program, which was the strength of the course. However, they should be familiar with, and utilize additional methods, such as discussion rather than lecture.