Nurses' Experiences about Ethical and Clinical Competencies: A Phenomenological Approach

Nurses constitute the largest group of health care workers. In this regard, paying attention to their competencies, which guarantee the quality of services, is of particular importance. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to describe and interpret the experiences of nurses in the field of their moral and clinical competencies. The present study is a qualitative research with phenomenological approach. In this regard, after porposful sampling, semi-structured indepth interviews with 18 nurses were conducted, in 2018. Lincoln and Guba criteria were used to obtain data validity. The data were analyzed by coding in three open, axial and selected levels. Nurses competencies described in 3 dimensions, 9 themes and 22 sub-themes including ethical dimension (relationship with the patient, social principles, religious and professional commitment); individual dimension (personality traits, motivation and perceptual ability); specialized dimension (scientific knowledge and specialized skills). Based on the results, nurses competencies can be described into three dimensions: individual, ethical and specialized. Therefore, management and educational planning to improve the moral and professional compitencies of the nurses in accordance with the code of nursing ethics is recommended in order to institutionalize these competencies.