Evaluation of Clinical Competence and its Relationship with the Dimensions of Competence of Operating Room Technologists

Introduction: Today advances in surgery and technology have made surgical technologists more in need of professional advancement in their work, since the presence of unskilled technologists in the health team can lead to a threat to public health. The present study aimed to investigate the scope of ability and its relationship with the clinical competence of operating room technologists at Iran University of Medical Sciences in 2017. Methods and Materials: During this cross-sectional study, the clinical competency of 180 operating room technologists working in hospitals of Iran University of Medical Sciences was analyzed by the self-assessment method. The valid and reliable questionnaire was used as an instrument for data collection. The first part of the questionnaire was about personal information, including age, gender, educational level and work experience, and specialized field, and the second part contains a clinical competency self-assessment questionnaire that has 45 questions and 6 dimensions (general knowledge, legal ethics, evaluation, diagnosis and care of the surgical patient, interpersonal relationships, leadership and management, professional progress and research). Data was analyzed by using Kruskal-Wallis and U-Mann- Whitney Nonparametric tests using SPSS version 22. Results: Operating room technologists reported their level of competence well. The general knowledge dimension had a high competency score. The evaluation of diagnosis and care of the surgical patient had an average of 78.4 and the lowest score of this study was related to the dimension of legal moral performance (15.75). There was a significant relationship between clinical competence and work experience, level of education, specialized field, age, responsibility, and employment relationship. (P<0.001) Discussion and Conclusion: Considering that clinical competence is a result of different competencies, therefore identifying their strengths and weaknesses and applying the necessary corrective measures has a significant role in improving the performance of hospitals.