Assessing Challenges Faced by Nurses Handling Critically ill Patients at Sulu Sanitarium General Hospital

This study focused on assessing the extent and the significant difference in the challenges faced by nurses in handling critically ill patients at Sulu Sanitarium General Hospital specifically on physical, emotional, mental, social and spiritual dimensions. It employed a cross-sectional research design with 100 nurses at Sulu Sanitarium General Hospital through a purposive sampling procedure and treated data through frequency, percentage score, weighted mean, standard deviation, t-test for independent samples, one-way ANOVA, and Pearson’s test of correlation. The following are the findings: 1) The majority of the nurses are female, aged between 31-40 years old, served for 1-5 years, mostly bachelor’s degree holders, and the majority do not have formal training for critical care nursing. 2) Generally, nurses experience moderate challenges in handling critically ill patients in their respective workplaces; 3) Generally, there is no significant difference in the extent of challenges faced by nurses handling critically ill patients at Sulu Sanitarium General Hospital when data are categorized according to gender, educational attainment, and training as critical care nurses. However, a significant difference exists in terms of age and length of service, where 30 years old and below and 1 year and below of service groups have better ways of perceiving the challenges in handling critically ill patients. 6) There is a highly positive significant correlation among the subcategories subsumed under the extent of challenges faced by nurses handling critically ill patients at Sulu Sanitarium General Hospital. Furthermore, this study tends to support Callista Roy’s adaptation model that views the person as an adaptive system in which the differing responses in this study show influence in the nurses’ coping mechanisms channeled to their adaptive responses. Finally, this study underscores the importance of critical care nursing training programs, support systems, public awareness campaigns, and personal and professional development that may be considered to overcome challenges faced by nurses in handling critically ill patients.