Competence in nursing process and clinical decision making among nurses in private and public hospitals in Roxas City

Abstract

This study addresses the competence in the nursing process and clinical decision making skills among nurses in Roxas City. This is a mixed method particularly a sequential explanatory utilizing quantitative and qualitative approaches which involves 192 nurses. Quantitative result were gathered using structured questionnaire followed by FGD which was participated by six nurse managers. The findings of the study revealed that nurses were ages 26 to 30 years old, single, and dominantly female. Majority of them are BSN graduates and have been in service for more than five years. More than half of them have attended seminars within the past two years and have worked mostly in Non- Special Areas. The respondents’ competence in nursing process and clinical decision making skills is on average level. Among the five phases of nursing process, diagnosis is the least practiced while in the sub-scale of clinical decision-making reevaluation of consequences is the least practiced one. Respondents’ tenure, degree attained in nursing, professional development, and area of assignment are not related to their competence in nursing process and their clinical decision-making skills. It was also discovered that the respondents’ competence in nursing process differ significantly with their clinical decision-making skills. Lastly, the FGD revealed that nurses’ do not perform all steps in nursing process and clinical decision-making due to the factors encountered such as lack of reinforcement, standard protocols and high patient ratio.