title: Relation between spiritual intelligence and clinical competency of nurses in Iran.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Clinical competency is one of the most important requirements in nursing profession, based on which nurses are assessed. To obtain an effective and improved form of clinical competency, several factors are observed and monitored by the health educational systems. Among these observed factors, spiritual intelligence is considered as one of the most significant factors in nurses' success and efficacy. In this study, it is aimed to determine the spiritual intelligence status and its relationship with clinical competency.
  
  
  METHODS
  The descriptive-correlational research was carried out on 250 nurses in Mashhad educational hospitals, selected by multi-stage sampling. Demographic, clinical competency, and spiritual intelligence questionnaires were used for data collection and 212 questionnaires were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  About 53.3% of nurses obtained above average scores in spiritual intelligence. Clinical competency was evaluated by both self-evaluation and head nurse evaluation methods. Most nurses (53.8%) were having good level of clinical competency based on self-evaluation, 48.2% were at average level based on head nurse evaluation, and 53.3% were at average level based on overall score. A significant correlation was found between spiritual intelligence and clinical competency.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this study, the positive significant correlation between nurses' spiritual intelligence and their clinical competency is investigated. Because of the positive effects of spiritual intelligence on nurses' clinical competency and quality of care, it is recommended to develop nurses' spiritual intelligence during their education and by way of continuous medical education.
authors.affiliation: Evidence- Based Caring Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran; Department of Medical Surgery, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran; Department of Medical Education, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Hossein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Karimi-Moonaghi
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Surgery, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Bojnord University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Akram
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gazerani
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Surgery, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Saeed
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vaghee
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Surgery, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Hassan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gholami
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing Management, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Amir Reza
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Salehmoghaddam
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Education, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Raheleh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gharibnavaz
keywords: Clinical competency; Iran; competency; nurse training; nurses; spiritual intelligence