Assessment of Nurses' Clinical Competency in Imam Hasan Hospital, Bojnurd, Iran

Abstract

Introduction: Nursing is as a clinical profession that is improving day to day. One of the important problem at hospitals is that nursing management are not aware of the competency of new entrance nurses. So, this study was done to assess competency of new nurses Emam Hasan hospital at Bojnurd. Methods: This study was the first stage of an action research. Nurses with under 10 working years were selected by census sampling. Task-based checklists based on profession nursing task, 13 clinical competencies were chosen for OSCE stations with Checklists for every competency. Content validity and inter-rater reliability were done. The data was analysis with Spss20 and doing descriptive (Frequency, mean, standard deviation) and inferential statistics (Pearson Correlation Coefficient), and considering levels of significance (P < 0.05). Results: This study showed that clinical competency was in moderate level. It was significant relationship between clinical competency and sex, the college in which they have graduated while there are any significant relationship between clinical ward. Conclusions: The program in order to enhancing clinical competency should be done for new nurses to figuring out good quality of delivery nursing care. Also, it's needed to assess periodically clinical competency in nurses with any working year and wards. Applying retraining program systematically and according to nurses' needs can improve nurses' clinical competency and clinical practices.

Clinical Competence and Clinical Performance of Nurses: A Cross-sectional Study

“…The lower CP score of emergency ward nurses is attributed to patients staying in the emergency ward for a short period and to the high turnover of nurses in this ward. Whenever nurses are required to perform tasks outside the scope of their nursing responsibilities, as directed by their managers, they are prevented from focusing on their primary duties (21).…”

“…For example, the results of a study by Bahreini et al in Shiraz showed that nurses' competence in both the level and frequency of using competencies is excellent in the clinical settings of this hospital (19); nevertheless, another study by Bahreini et al in Bushehr showed that nurses' CC was unfavorable in education/guidance and quality assurance (26). Additionally, the results of evaluating the CC of nursing personnel in Bojnord showed that the CC of this personnel is in good condition (21).…”

“…The CC is a continuous process of obtaining knowledge, values, attitudes, and skills, such as critical thinking skills, bringing creativity and innovation to nursing practice (20). The CC is considered the use of knowledge, skills, abilities, behaviors, and characteristics to successfully perform important work tasks in the field of nursing (21). One definition of CC is the efficient utilization of technical and communicational skills, knowledge, clinical reasoning, emotions, and values in a clinical environment (22).…”

“…Decreasing the level of nurses' competence can lead to patient dissatisfaction, work mistakes, endangering the patient's life and the staff's health, loss of productivity, and incompleteness of a department's activities (21). The CC is the effective use of technology and communication skills, knowledge, clinical reasoning, emotions, and values in the clinical environment (22).…”

“…Various factors also affect CC in any organization. The results of a study showed that CC has a significant relationship with increasing years of service, nurses' gender, and the university where they study (21). According to Ebadi et al's study regarding the CC of critical care nursing master's students, female students have higher levels of CC than male students (27).…”