Evaluation of Psychiatric Nursing Clinical Competencies in Nurses Working in Razi Psychiatric Hospital affiliated to the University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences from the Viewpoints of themselves and their Head-Nurses in 2019

Abstract Introduction: Clinical competence is considered as the use of knowledge, skills, abilities, behaviors and characteristics to successfully perform important work tasks in the field of mental health nursing. Despite training that prepares nurses for diagnosis and intervention to promote mental health and reduce the risk of psychiatric illness, most nurses are currently limited in their willingness to provide psychiatric care.Therefore, the aim of this study was to Evaluation of psychiatric nursing clinical competencies in nurses working in Razi Psychiatric Hospital affiliated to the University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences from the Viewpoints of themselves and their head-nurses in 2019. Methods: This study is a descriptive cross-sectional research. The sample consisted of 173 nurses working in Razi Psychiatric Hospital affiliated to the University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences. After obtaining written informed consent, they were enrolled in the study. The number of head-nurses was 25, who filled out the checklists for their subordinate nurses. The following tools were used to collect data: 1. Demographic Questionnaire, 2. Psychiatric nurses clinical competencies self-assessment questionnaire, and 3. Checklist of clinical competencies of psychiatric nurses. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 22.                                                                                                                                                  Results: The total score for self-assessment of competencies was 148.62 and the total score for evaluation of nurses was 118.9. This means that the nurses rated their clinical competence at an excellent level and the head nurses rated their clinical competence at a good level. None of the independent variables had a significant relationship with the dependent variables (self-assessment of clinical competencies and evaluation of clinical competencies by the head nurse). Conclusion: In general, it can be concluded that the clinical competence of psychiatric nurses was desirable from the perspective of themselves and their supervisors. Providing a model and performance plan for assessing clinical competency can help nursing managers and head nurses monitor their clinical staff in relation to their level of clinical skills. Because nurses need clinical competence in all aspects for optimal clinical performance. So that managers and supervisors should have full control over the clinical competence of their nursing staff and identify and encourage highly qualified staff and be aware of the areas in which nurses suffer from weakness and inadequacy and try to strengthen weaknesses. Keywords: Psychiatric Nursing, Clinical Competence