Investigating the Role of Self-Compassion and Clinical Competencies in the Prediction of Nurses’ Professional Quality of Life

E-portfolio as an effective tool for improvement of practitioner nurses' clinical competence

BACKGROUND

Clinical competence is essential for providing effective patient care. Clinical Governance (CG) is a framework for learning and assessing clinical competence. A portfolio is a work-placed-based tool for monitoring and reflecting on clinical practice. This study aimed to investigate the effect of using an e-portfolio on the practitioner nurses' competence improvement through the CG framework.

METHODS

This was a quasi-experimental study with 30 nurses in each intervention and control group. After taking the pretests of knowledge and performance, the participants attended the in-person classes and received the educational materials around CG standards for four weeks. In addition, nurses in the intervention group received the links to their e-portfolios individually and filled them out. They reflected on their clinical practice and received feedback. Finally, nurses in both groups were taken the post-tests.

RESULTS

Comparing the pre-and post-test scores in each group indicated a significant increase in knowledge and performance scores. The post-test scores for knowledge and performance were significantly higher in the intervention group than in the control one, except for the initial patient assessment.

CONCLUSION

This study showed that the e-portfolio is an effective tool for the improvement of the nurses' awareness and performance in CG standards. Since the CG standards are closely related to clinical competencies, it is concluded that using portfolios effectively improves clinical competence in practitioner nurses.

Influence of Emotional Skills on Attitudes towards Communication: Nursing Students vs. Nurses

Communication in nursing is essential to the quality of care and patients' satisfaction, and personal variables such as empathy and emotional intelligence (EI) can improve it; however, no studies have to date analyzed these competencies and their relations among nursing students compared with nurses. The aims of this study are, therefore, to analyze the differences between nursing students and nurses in the means for empathy, EI and attitudes towards communication in order to assess the impact of empathy and EI on nurses' and nursing students' attitudes towards communication, and their influence on the behavioral dimension of attitude. A cross-sectional descriptive study was performed on a convenience sample of 961 nursing students and 460 nurses from the Valencian Community, Spain. T-test and hierarchical regression models (HRM) were used. The data was collected in the selected universities in the 2018/2019 academic year. The results showed high levels in all the variables analyzed (i.e., empathy, EI, and attitudes towards communication) in both samples. The HRM results suggested that empathy was a better predictor than EI of the attitudes towards patient communication among both the nursing students and nurses. In the behavioral dimension of the attitude, the cognitive and affective dimensions had greater weight than the emotional component (i.e., empathy and EI). Developing empathy and the cognitive dimension of the attitude in nursing students and nurses could, therefore, help improve EI and attitudes towards communication. These findings are important for developing intervention programs adjusted to real needs.

The correlation between emotional intelligence and clinical competence in nurses working in special care units: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Emotional intelligence and clinical competence are essential skills of the nursing profession to elevate the quality of nursing services and patient satisfaction.

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to determine the correlation between emotional intelligence and clinical competence in nurses working in critical care units of hospitals affiliated to Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional study with a correlational design.

SETTINGS

Special care units (SCUs) of hospitals affiliated to Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Tehran, Iran.

PARTICIPANTS

The research subjects included 200 nurses working in the Special care units SCUs of hospitals affiliated to Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, selected via convenience sampling.

METHODS

Data were collected using three questionnaires, including a demographic information questionnaire, the Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i), and Benner's Nurse Competence Scale (NCS). The questionnaires were completed from October to December 2019. Data were analyzed using SPSS-18 software at a significance level of P < 0.05.

RESULTS

The emotional intelligence of nurses participating in the study had the highest mean (SD) of 17.31(3.34) in the self-expression dimension and the lowest mean of 12.04(3.40) in the empathy dimension. There was a significant direct correlation between emotional intelligence and clinical competence (P = 0.05). There was also a significant relationship between the total clinical competence and its dimensions (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Communication skills and accountability significantly impact the provision of optimal care, and the proper training of staff in responsibility, accountability, and communication skills will have many benefits for promoting nursing services and can be considered one of the strategies to improve the quality of nursing services. They are therefore recommended to be considered in designing and implementing continuing education programs for nurses.

The barriers and facilitators of developing clinical competence among master's graduates of gerontological nursing: a qualitative descriptive study

BACKGROUND

Clinical competence development is a main goal of specialized nursing courses. Nonetheless, some master's graduates of gerontological nursing programs have inadequate Clinical competence. The aim of this study was to explore the barriers and the facilitators to clinical competence development among the master's graduates of gerontological nursing.

METHOD

This qualitative descriptive study was conducted in 2020. Participants were twenty nursing master's students, master's graduates, and instructors of gerontological nursing. They were purposively selected from several faculties of nursing and midwifery in Tehran, Isfahan, and Kashan, Iran. Semi-structured interviews were held for data collection and the conventional content analysis proposed by Graneheim and Lundman was used for data analysis. Data were managed using the MAXQDA 10 software.

RESULTS

The main barriers to clinical competence development were students' neglectfulness towards learning, inefficiency of educational system, and ineffective management. The main facilitators to clinical competence development were effective educational planning and management improvement.

CONCLUSION

There are different personal, educational, and managerial barriers and facilitators to clinical competence development among master's graduates of gerontological nursing. Effective educational planning and management improvement are needed for clinical competence development among master's students and graduates of gerontological nursing.

The relationship between professional self-concept and work-related quality of life of nurses working in the wards of patients with COVID-19

BACKGROUND

Nurses are at the forefront of providing health care services and their performance is largely determinant of the quality of health care. This study aims to investigate associations between professional self-concept (PSC) and WRQoL among nurses from selected hospitals in Bushehr and Shiraz cities (south of Iran), during the period of COVD-19 pandemic.

METHOD

This study is designed as a cross-sectional study. Available sampling was performed among active nurses in the care wards of patients with Covid-19 in public hospitals in Bushehr and Shiraz. Data were collected using demographic information form, along with the work-related quality of life and professional self-concept questionnaires. SPSS software and univariate and multivariate linear regression statistical methods with a significance level of 0.05 were used to analyze the data.

RESULTS

The mean scores of the PSC and the WRQoL Scale in nurses were respectively 202.32 ± 38.19 and 68.81 ± 19.12. There was also a significant direct relationship between PSC and WRQoL. PSC together with work location and working experience could thus explain 34.6% of the variance in WRQoL, which was 26.5% for PSC.

CONCLUSION

Considering the confirmation of the predictive role of nurses' PSC in their WRQoL in terms of planning and designing interventions to boost their WRQoL, attention to internal factors such as PSC is of utmost importance.

Clinical competence in nursing: A hybrid concept analysis

BACKGROUND

Clinical competence (CC) is central issue in nursing. There are some controversies about this concept that needs further investigation. The present study was conducted to analyze the concept of clinical competence in nursing.

METHODS

This concept analysis was conducted using the three-phase hybrid model. In the theoretical phase, the Science Direct, PubMed, CINAHL, ProQuest, Scopus, Web of Science, SID, Iranmedex, and Magiran databases were searched to retrieve articles published from 2000 to 2020. Forty two eligible articles were included and analyzed. In the fieldwork phase, semi-structured interviews were held with eighteen university lecturers, clinical instructors, students, and hospital nurses and the data were analyzed through conventional content analysis. In the final analytic phase, the findings of the first and the second phases were combined.

RESULTS

The majority of literature defined CC in nursing as a combination of knowledge, and skills, and attitudes that is consistent with those of the fieldwork phase. Most participants in fieldwork stated that gaining CC is a process that is achieved over time through practice and repetition and increasing experience. A nurse needs to acquire personal, social and professional competencies during the study and work period. The CC has antecedents of efficient education, and organizational support. It also has consequences for patients and nurses such as satisfaction, and quality care.

CONCLUSION

CC is a continuous process of obtaining knowledge, values, and attitudes, and skills such as critical thinking skills that brings creativity and innovation in nursing practice.