Professional and academic legislation relating to nursing skills reflects conceptual and professional developments. In this sense, conceptual and methodological analyses are required to describe the concept of nursing competencies, the individual or group self-perception of competencies, to identify training needs, and to specify the nursing professional profile within the health organization. A sequential mixed methodology was proposed combining qualitative and quantitative approaches. The qualitative methodology involves the Focus Group and the Delphi technique. The quantitative methodology involves surveying and analyzing self-perception (descriptive and analytical in relation to personal and professional variables and levels of excellence). The methodology was piloted among primary care nurses. Competencies were analyzed and distributed across the training program. The combination of qualitative and quantitative methods showed that obtaining a deep insight into the nurses' competencies would be a good process. This proposal is applicable as an approach to global nursing competencies or to a particular specialty.
Keywords: clinical competence; competency-based education; nursing; professional competence; self-assessment; self-perception.