EVALUATION OF NURSES’ COMPETENCY LEVELS

AS TO THE CLINICAL LEADERSHIP QUALITIES DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC

 

Elif ÖZYURT¹, Keziban AVCI², Zuhal ÇAYIRTEPE³, Figen ŞENEL ÇİZMECİ⁴

 

Abstract

Purpose: Nurses are a critically important professional group because they have primary responsibility in the implementation and follow-up of the treatment and care given by doctors and they interact directly with the patients and their relatives. Clinical leadership is expressed as a sharing leadership that adapts very quickly to innovations, has the ability to cope with good or bad changes, and can determine the direction by seeing the future. The aim of the research is to determine the proficiency levels of nurses in clinical leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic, to raise awareness in health institutions, to provide an advantage in creating a suitable working environment to prove quality, and to contribute to the provision of health services in line with the data.

Method: 

he study covers 259 nurses working at public hospitals. In order to identify the clinical competence characteristics of the nurses, “Clinical Leadership Competency Framework: Self-Evaluation Questionnaire” has been conducted. Data analysis has been made with IMB SPSS 25.0 Statistical Software Package.

Results: While it was determined that there was a statistically significant relationship between the clinical leadership characteristics of nurses and the formal education they received in age, total working time/work experience and management, such a relationship could not be established according to gender, professional sub-branches and education level. In general, it has been observed that nurses tend to have a high level of clinical leadership (Table1and 2).

Conclusion: In today's world where patient safety and quality of patient care are a serious concern, nurses as clinical leaders play a leading role in ensuring the sustainability of quality and accreditation standards by guiding all medical personnel. Our study reveals that they successfully fulfill their clinical leadership role regarding the rapid, accurate and safe management of pandemic processes.

 

Key words: Clinical Leadership, COVOD-19 Pandemic, Nurses.