ISMJ

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Background: Nurses’ self awareness of their own level of clinical competence is essential in maintaining high standards of care and identifying areas of educational need and professional development. Self-assessment is a method for measuring clinical competence, and encourages nurses to use reflective thinking and take an active part in the learning process. Although nurse competence may vary between hospitals, very few studies have been done on this subject. Methods: In this cross sectional study, we analyzed clinical competency of 190 registered nurses working in different hospitals in Bushehr by self assessment method. The instrument for data collection was a valid and reliable questionnaire consisting of 73 items from seven categories which were devised from Benner's “from Novice to Expert” framework. The level of competence was assessed on a scale of 0-100 and the frequency of using the competencies was assessed on a Likert scale. Results: the nurses reported their overall level of competence as “good” (51-75). They felt more competent in the categories of “managing situations” and “helping role” (with maximum score of 79.54) and least competent in “teaching – coaching” and “ensuring quality” categories (with minimum score of 61.15). The frequency of practicing competencies had a positive correlation with the level of nursing clinical competence. Conclusion: The level of nursing competence and frequency of using competencies varied in different hospitals. Although the nurses reported their overall level of competence as good, we should be concerned about 24% of competencies which are not used by the nurses, especially in "teaching – coaching" and "ensuring quality" categories.

Keywords: clinical competence, skill, self assessment, nursing, occupation

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