I'm writing about the results of your informal poll, which indicate that 52% of the 1,410 respondents don't feel confident about the competence of their nursing colleagues ("Survey Responses: Are You Confident Your Nursing Colleagues Are Competent?" Clinical Rounds, February 2007).*

Many members of our nursing staff are either new graduates who are inadequately oriented or trained, or older nurses who seem to be waiting for retirement and aren't interested in setting the right example or mentoring newer nurses.

Also, annual competency reviews are a joke in some facilities. Nurses are allowed to pass when they "sort of" know how to do something. And some nursing directors are blase about dealing with continuous incompetence, failing to hold all of their staff accountable to current standards and evidence-based practices.

-NAME WITHHELD BY REQUEST

^*Individual subscribers can access this article free online at http://www.nursing2007.com. [Context Link]