Abstract

VIRGINIA MARIA SOUSA, Guedes; FIGUEIREDO, Maria Henriqueta Silva  and  APOSTOLO, João Luís Alves. Competencies of General Care Nurses in Primary Care: from Understanding to Implementation. Rev. Enf. Ref. [online]. 2016, vol.serIV, n.8, pp.27-33. ISSN 0874-0283.  https://doi.org/10.12707/RIV15022.

Background: The process of developing nursing competencies is influenced by several factors. The framework of competencies for general care nurses includes 96 nursing competencies related to professional, ethical and legal practice, care provision and management, and professional development. Objectives: To describe which are the most and least understood and implemented competencies by general care nurses in primary health care. Methodology: A quantitative and descriptive study was conducted on a sample of 90 general care nurses in primary health care, using a questionnaire with a competency scale. Results: A significant and positive inter-variable correlation was found. The professional, ethical and legal practice had higher mean levels of understanding and implementation; care provision and management had lower mean levels on both variables. The competencies were more understood than implemented. Conclusion: Understanding competencies is an important factor for their implementation. However, this was not the only factor that influenced the results, because the correlation between the 2 variables is not perfect.

Keywords : primary health care; skills; nursing care.

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