Clinical competency: perceptions of nursing interns and clinical mentors

Objective: To assess the clinical competency of nursing interns and the perception of clinical nurse mentors toward student nurses’ clinical competency. Methods: A study was carried out among 104 nursing interns and 26 clinical nurse mentors using the purposive sampling technique. A self-reported perception scale was used to collect the data. Results: In general, most nursing interns perceived themselves as clinically competent during the internship. The clinical nurse mentors too reported that the current internship is helping the nursing interns in becoming competent. Conclusions: Frequent clinical evaluation, buddy system, provision of stipends, good leadership, and coordination between the academic institute and hospital are reported as the critical motivating factors for improving the clinical competency of student interns.