Skills Required for Clinical Competence: A Qualitative Research

Clinical competence is one of the most controversial topics in the field of health care, which has a great importance in various areas of therapy, including education, clinical, and management. The present study was conducted to explore the skills required for obtaining the clinical competency of occupational therapists.
The current qualitative study was conducted following content analysis. The participants included 13 occupational therapists with a minimum of two years of clinical experience. The information was obtained through a focus group with four attendees and an individual interview with nine other graduate occupational therapists. Data was analyzed based on Graneheim method (2004).
Three categories emerged from the data, including reflection (with subcategories of self-judgment and critique of others), communication (with subcategories of communication with client and colleagues), and technical skills (with subcategories of disease recognition, assessment and comprehensive planning, and time and energy management).
The findings of the present study suggest that occupational therapists need different skills to obtain clinical competence and, according to the participants, improvement of supervisory, support, and educational systemas well as individual interest in the profession can help them to acquire skills and use them. Yet, more studies are needed to shed more light on this area.