DOH launches program to develop nurses’ skills
THE Department of Health (DOH) on Friday launched the Nurse Certification Program (NCP) to help develop the competency and to develop the skills of Filipino nurses.
The Health department initiated the program and said that it has a supervised system that would enhance Filipino nurses’ skills in both basic and specialty areas and afterward give them certification based on a set of standard competencies.
Health Secretary Enrique Ona said that the launch of NCP was the first of its kind in DOH history. The health chief added that it was also developed through the help of DOH specialty hospitals and few DOH- retained teaching and training hospitals.
The said program would provide framework that would seek higher level of performance from nurses
The Health department, through NCP, also wanted to improve the standards of Nursing development in the country after conducting orientations about its concept and mechanics.
The NCP provides a framework for looking at higher level performance of nurses within a particular general or specialty area. The performance standards would be based on specific behaviors set for each level. NCP would also provide the mechanism to progress from one level of expertise to another and participants would be guided and would undergo evidence-based assessment process.
Candidates with consistent performances that would meet the set standards in each level would receive certification of competency. The level of progression are general nursing— levels 1 and 2— and specialty nursing for levels 3 to 5.
The system for nurse certification includes competency definitions for each level of general or specialty areas; requirements for entry into each level; competency- based assessment process to determine en- try into, as well as satisfactory completion of requirements for a given level; learning and development interventions for each level using existing development programs in the hospital and building on them and certification of competency for each level of progression.
All registered nurses are qualified to join the program. Self-assessment tools can be downloaded from the DOH website. Foreign nurses, on the other hand, can also avail of the program provided they first secure a special temporary permit from the Professional Regulations Commission.
An accomplished self-assessment tool validated by the immediate supervisor ( for employed nurses), portfolio and other supporting documents should be submitted to the Committee on Assessment and Certification of the DOH Health Human Resource and Development Bureau.
An assessment fee, based on the number of competencies to be assessed, will be collected from an applicant. For employed nurses, they should coordinate with their hospital chiefs if they want to avail of the assessment and learning interventions on sponsorship basis and agree on their payback mechanism.