Critical Care Nursing in the Philippines: Historical Past, Current Practices, and Future Directions

Abstract

This article provides a brief background on critical care nursing in the Philippines, its trend on current practice, and its implication and future direction. An overview is given on the milieu and processes inherent in the critical care unit with the intensive care unit setup taken as its exemplar. The roles and responsibilities of critical care nurses within these units and nature of common issues within their practice is explored. The need for training in communication skills, conflict resolution, and palliative care is implied for these nurses to fully fulfill their roles as collaborative clinician and active patient advocate.

Keywords: Critical care nursing; End of life and palliative care; Family involvement; Interprofessional communication and collaboration; Pain management; Patient rehabilitation; Philippines; Quality and safety.