INVESTIGATING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERCEPTION OF CLINICAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT WITH CLINICAL COMPETENCE IN NURSING STUDENTS OF URMIA UNIVERSITY OF MEDICAL SCIENCES IN 2019

Clinical education is a dynamic process and an essential part of nursing education. The clinical learning environment plays a vital role in shaping the professional skills of nursing students. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between perception of clinical learning environment and clinical competence in nursing students of Urmia University of Medical Sciences in 2019.

This descriptive correlational study was conducted on 150 nursing students of Urmia University of Medical Sciences. The nurses were selected by random sampling method. Data were collected using the questionnaires of clinical learning environment and clinical competence. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS software version 16.

The results showed that the mean scores of clinical learning environment and clinical competence of nursing students were 196.06 ± 16.42 and 135.46 ± 21.71, respectively. Pearson correlation test showed that there is a statistically significant relationship between perception of clinical learning environment and clinical competence (p <0.05, r = 0.261).

The findings indicated that students' perceptions of the clinical learning environment were at a moderate level but their clinical competencies were at a high level. Therefore, based on the results of this study and by identifying these factors, the nursing managers and educators will be able to design and implement their managerial and educational activities based on scientific findings in a way that provides the necessary conditions to acquire more clinical competencies for nurses.