Nurses' Evaluation of Their Use and Mastery in Health Assessment Skills: Selected Iran's Hospitals

BACKGROUND Health assessment skills are of the most important skills which nurses require. The more precise assessment, the better results would be obtained and the quality of patient care would be improved. However, in Iran, few studies have investigated nurses' assessment skills. OBJECTIVES This study was aimed to assessnurses' evaluation of the learned skills of health assessment and their use. MATERIALS AND METHODS This cross-sectional study was conducted on 200 nurses in Isfahan province hospitals. Data was collected by a questionnaire including demographic data and 120 health assessment skills. Nurses scored their frequency of using and proficiency in skills. Statistical analysis was conducted by ANOVA, Tukey test and independent sample T-tests. RESULTS The highest level of using and proficiency in skills was related to taking history. Nurses received 87.25% of score in this field. The lowest level of application was in assessment of the urogenital system so that nurses received 16.37% of score in this area. Also the lowest proficiency was in assessment of the nervous system and nurses received 34.58% of score in this area. CONCLUSIONS The level of nurses' proficiency in the health assessment skills was not satisfactory. Modifying the curriculum and cooperating of nurse managers and nursing schools can help to improve the situation.