Incompetence Among Critical Care Nurses: A Survey Report

...remain vigilant in your own facility to ensure that your patients receive the best care possible and to raise the specter of incompetence in critical care nursing practice should that become warranted. The August 2008 editorial in Critical Care Nurse (CCN) examined the pivotal role that staff competency serves for both ensuring the provision of optimal and safe patient care as well as in determining whether nurses judge their work environment to be satisfying. Regardless of whether the context of discussion is how the nursing profession meets its obligations for public safety, how the Synergy Model for Patient Care facilitates meeting patient needs, or which of the 37 magnet program features nurses rate as most important, the answer to all of these crucial concerns is rooted in the competency of nursing staff. In addition to highlighting the readily recognized importance of staff competency, the editorial also broached the infrequently acknowledged issue of incompetence in nursing. More directly, the editorial asked readers whether they had observed incompetence among their critical care colleagues and challenged readers to share their observations by completing a brief online survey at the CCN Web site. This is a report of the findings from that survey.