Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of ego-resilience, nursing professionalism and empathy on clinical competency and to suggest strategies for improving the clinical competency of general hospital nurses.Methods: Data collection was performed from Jan. 18th, 2019 to Feb. 14th. A total of 194 nurses from four general hospitals participated in this study. The collected data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis test, Scheffe test, Pearson's correlation and stepwise multiple regression analysis using SPSS 23.0.Results: The factors affecting the clinical competency of general hospital nurses included ego-resilience (β=.28, p<.001), nursing professionalism (β=.20, p=.011), empathic concern (β=.19, p=.003), working department (β=-.17, p=.008), total clinical career (β=.15, p=.011), and number of beds (β=.13, p=.033). These factors accounted for 33.0% of the clinical competency (p<.001).Conclusion: It is important to find ways to improve the level of empathy of general hospital nurses and there is a need to include education programs or practical interventions to strengthen empathy at the clinical level.