Competence-based performance evaluation in hospital nurses.

Objective: to evaluate the frequencies attributed to the professional competences of hospital nurses, discussing the ones that obtained higher and lower frequencies.

Method: descriptive, cross-sectional, quantitative study with 45 nurses of a hospital of high complexity in the interior of São Paulo state. The study used the Competences Evaluation Questionnaire, translated and validated in Brazil, composed of 27 items in five domains: professionalism, communication, management, nursing process and problem solving. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.

Results: it was found that 80% of the participants were female and 20% were male. The age ranged between 25 and 63 years, with an average of 40.02 years, and the average length of professional experience was 13.39 years. The competences "Communication with the hospital's administrative staff" and "Participation in scientific research and / or application of results" had the lowest frequencies, while "Commitment to punctuality and workload" and "Commitment to the ethical principles of the profession" were evaluated with the highest frequencies.

Conclusion: evaluating the performance by competences becomes essential for managers and training centers, since it contributes to the identification of gaps in knowledge, skills and attitudes of professionals, by promoting the elaboration and implementation of strategies for their development.