Abstract:
The purpose of this research was to study the competencies of clinical nurse supervisors by using the Delphi Technique. The participants were 21 experts consisting of three experts in the Federation of Nursing Professions, three experts who are directors of nursing departments operating in government hospitals, three professionals who are academic nurses with research related to clinical supervision, six head nurses with clinical supervision experience and six nurses who are advanced practice nurses with clinical supervision experience. The Delphi Technique consisted of three steps. At Step One, all experts were asked to describe the competencies of clinical nurse supervisors. At Step Two, data were analyzed by content analysis to develop a rating scale questionnaire. All items in the questionnaire were used to estimate the trends of importance in clinical supervisory nursing competencies. At Step Three, all items were analyzed by using median (Md) and interquartile range (IR) to develop a new version of the questionnaire, which was then sent to the above experts for confirmation. Data were re-analyzed by median (Md) and interquartile range (IR) to summarize the competencies of clinical nurse supervisors in government hospitals. The results of the study indicate that the competencies of clinical nurse supervisors in government hospitals consist of the following 6 components: 1) Technical and theoretical knowledge (14 items); 2) Skills of clinical supervisors (14 items); 3) Attributes of clinical supervisors (12 items). 4) Clinical teaching (7 items); 5) Communication and relationships (6 items) and 6) Nursing informatics technology (6 items) Clinical supervisors at government hospitals had the highest level of significance for every item (Md = 4.50 - 4.76, IR = 0.25 - 0.82).