Assessing Emergency Nurses' Clinical Competency: An Exploratory Factor Analysis Study

Nursing as a clinical discipline is developing in the emergency wards. Health care systems should continuously assess and prioritize indicators of clinical competency in these wards. The lack of clear standards of clinical competency indicators challenges evaluation. The purpose of this study was to determine clinical competency indicators and its priority based on nurses' views in educational and therapeutic centers in Guilan. The Q methodology was conducted in three phases, that is, phase I (determining the clinical competency indicators), phase II (classifying clinical competency indicators by an expert panel), and phase III (prioritizing clinical competency indicators). The subjects were selected by convenience sampling among nurses working in the emergency wards of teaching hospitals affiliated to Guilan in 2013. Finally, clinical competency indicators were prioritized using exploratory factor analysis. In the prioritizing phase, data were collected from 710 nurses over two months. Five factors with 30 general competencies were found in three domains: communication, professional maturity, and personality characteristics. Six factors with 37 specific competencies were also found in two domains: scientific and technical capabilities and basic clinical skills that can provide a structured instrument for assessing clinical competence in emergency nurses. Achieved competencies can be used as a reference for nursing education and practice in emergency. Further research on health care system is needed in order to achieve a reliable and valid instrument.