Competency of Staff Nurses - the Problem and Its Setting

CHAPTER I

The Problem and Its Setting

Introduction

Nurses have four fundamental responsibilities: to promote health, to prevent illness, to restore health and to alleviate suffering along with this the respect for human rights and cultural rights, the right to life and choice, to dignity and to be treated with respect is inherent in nursing (ICN, 2005). Being in the nursing profession nurses must maintain considerations of age, color, creed, culture, disability or illness, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, politics, race or social status. Are staff nurses able to meet the standard of nursing practice as set by the code of ethics and competency for Filipino nurses in the country?

Hospitalized patients have two reasonable expectations: that they will not be harmed as a result of their hospitalization, and that nurses will provide competent and compassionate bedside care (Morath & Turnbull, 2005). Do Filipino nurses today able to meet the satisfaction of these sick individuals?

In the past, quality of care was measured based on practice standards. But in recent years, there has been renewed emphasis on the involvement of patients in the evaluation of health care as manifested by the measurement of their satisfaction. Hence nurses are the main workforce primarily involve in the health care services they must maintain and elevate the standard of their profession and must maintain the good qualities and competence as a professional nurse.

The Philippines is not the only viable source of competent nurses in the world, Filipino nurses are still the most desired among foreign employers because technically, Filipino nurses are better than those from other countries (Lorenzo, 2009). In contrary with above statement most of the new graduate nurses who are after one or two years of experience will go to abroad immediately (Cayetano, 2004), she said doctors are complaining about this trend as they cannot work as competent nurses, especially during crucial surgical procedures and emergency.

Patients are consumers, and what they purchase in a medical institution are both products and services that are rendered primarily to keep them healthy and free of harm. As consumers, one of the patient's priorities is satisfaction with the purchase. Among the services that patients evaluate is nursing care. People are continuously looking for hospital services that would give them value for money. This means looking for a hospital that would give them the quality of service that they are looking for an in an amount that they find comfortable. Patient satisfaction has been found to be an adequate measure of overall health system performance (Vahey, et.al., 2004 & DiPaula et.al., 2002). Moreover, patients are more likely to return to the hospital or use its services when they are satisfied with their care.

In local setting, As nurses assume more challenging roles in health care, the flock of nurses abroad, the rapidly changing environment driven by health care restructuring and a singular focus on cost cutting measures, problems, as expected, arise. This environment makes it more difficult for nurses to practice based on the standards/guidelines and the code of ethics for nurses which are basis for competency and for which they are held accountable (Whittaker and Carson, 2003 as cited by Escobillo, 2007). Thus would also affect the patient satisfaction.

Locally Digos City Davao del Sur, has various numbers of hospitals, each of them offers variety of health care services and other health related aspects. Patient satisfaction must be evaluated for an assessment of the services they have rendered to their patient's and through this research it can assess the level of patient's experiences when admitted to the institution. Moreover, it enhances patient's satisfaction and assesses the level of work ethics and competency of the staff nurses whom we consider the angel in the sick room.

Statement of the Problem

This study aims to determine the Work Ethics, Competency of Staff Nurses and Patient's Satisfaction in Digos City.

Specifically it aims to seek answer the following questions:

1. What is the level of work ethics of staff nurses in terms of:

1..1 Nurses and People

1..2 Nurses and Practice

1..3 Nurses and Profession

2. What is the level of competency of staff nurses in terms of:

2..1 Safe and Quality Nursing Care

2..2 Communication

2..3 Health Education

2..4 Legal Responsibility

2..5 Ethico-Moral Responsibility

2..6 Personal and Professional Development

3. What is the level of patient's satisfaction in terms of:

3.1 Nursing Care

3.2 Nurse-Patient Relationship

4. Is there a significant relationship between level of work ethics of staff nurses and patient satisfaction?

5. Is there a significant relationship between level of competency of staff nurses and patient satisfaction?

Null Hypothesis

The following null hypothesis is formulated at the 0.05 level of significance:

1. There is no significant relationship between level of work ethics of staff nurses and patient satisfaction.

2. There is no significant relationship between level of competence of staff nurses and patient satisfaction.

Significance of the Study

The result of this study is beneficial to the following:

Hospital/Administrator: The result will give them information regarding the professional nursing practice of their staff nurses as well as the patients' satisfaction on the performance of the staff nurses. With this, the administrators could assess and help them whenever necessary for them to be trained for them to become effective and competent