"Competency Level of Staff Nurses "

This paper explored the competency level of staff nurses in caring patients who are critically ill in a government hospital in Manila. Since government hospitals can cater only limited number of patients in the intensive care unit, most of these patients are housed in the different wards of the hospital. The reality of health care today makes critical care units a very expensive care modality. For some reasons like vacancy, high turnover of nurses in this area and the financial viability of the hospitals and patients, nurses assigned in the wards are expected to handle critically ill clients. This research is guided by concept based from the theory of Hubert and Stuart Dreyfus (1986) and Patricia Benner (1984;2004). Purposive sampling was utilized since all staff nurses from three different wards in a government hospital in Manila who are assigned in the wards where critically patients are confined were used as subjects of the study.