Comparative Study of Evaluating the Clinical Competence of Emergency Nurses Using Self-assessments and Assessment by Head Nurses

Background: Clinical competency is the ability of nurses to play a professional role in a clinical environment, in terms of the quality of the services provided. Objectives: The present study aimed to compare the clinical competence of emergency department nurses using self-assessments and evaluations by head nurses. Methods: A descriptive-analytical study was conducted from July to September 2019. The census method was used to select 70 nurses working in the emergency departments of three hospitals. Data was collected by using self-assessment questionnaires and evaluations by head nurses. The instrument was a clinical competency questionnaire with questions related to seven functional fields and 73 skills. Results: The viewpoints of nurses and head nurses on the clinical competencies of nurses were assessed at a moderate level in the majority of domains. Nurses defined their clinical competencies at a significantly higher level than the head nurses (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Based on the results, it is assumed that using more than one method and simultaneously applying multiple methods in an assessment will provide more accurate results about nurses’ clinical competence.