Background: Growing rates and causes of medical errors made by nurses have just arisen as a substantial concern that can consequence to mortality and frailty of numerous individuals annually. Evaluating nurses' competency is challenging as no single method is deprived of its assessment. Thus, it led to recognize influencing characteristics towards nurses' competency in healthcare services delivery. Methods: This descriptive, cross-sectional study assessed nurses' competency of a purposive sample of 211 registered nurses employed in selected private and public hospitals of Central Luzon, Philippines. Results: Most of the respondents were under 21-60 years old (mean=31.64, SD=2.46), predominantly single 146 (69.20%), female 131 (62.10%), registered nurses 162 (76.80%) that were permanently employed as staff nurses 128 (60.70%) for 1-30 years in service (mean=6.43, SD=1.85) that earned Php 6,000-60,000 (mean=17.951, SD=3.68) which is less than expected to receive. Overall, nurses had positive perceptions toward their competency (mean 4.49 ± SD 0.88). Among the seven-dimension competency scale, 'legal/ethical practice' was the highest mean score (mean 4.60 ± SD 0.55) reported, while 'teaching-coaching' (mean 4.36 ± SD 0.62) the lowest. Permanent nurses revealed higher self-perceived competencies than non-permanent ones. Comparing nurses' nature of work, nurses had better self-perceived competencies than other field of work. It was also emphasized that demographic and work-related characteristics towards perspective on nursing competency had significant differences using multivariate analyses. Conclusion: This study highlighted nurses' competency in delivering healthcare services in the Philippines. Demographic (marital) and work-related (nature of work, salary, length of service) characteristics affect their competency level. They have greater competency level in their workplace with permanency at work. Finally, the results provided unique theoretical underpinning that expands on previous knowledge and literature on factors that affect the nurses' competency level.

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This study aims to explore and examine the conjectures surrounding the utilization of family planning services among currently married couples of childbearing age in Renk County.This study has adopted a qualitative method to collect data on factors affecting the utilization of family planning services through focus group discussions and in-depth interviews, in rural and urban areas of Renk County. It targeted married women, men as well as unmarried men and women. The researchers conducted nine focus group discussions and nine interviews at both Jelhak (rural setting) and Renk (urban setting). The results suggested that the people of Renk County prefer to have large families and therefore choose not to use family planning methods. The data collected was analyzed by means of thematic analysis. This included the construction of a thematic framework, coding, editing and categorization of available data as well as the creation of sub-themes.The result also suggested that perception is a main factor that affects utilization of family planning services with a majority of the people in Renk and Jelhak preferring to have many children in order to increase the family size for some reasons. These are linked to religion, social stigma and taboo that are attached to childless people or users of family planning methods for birth control purposes.The responses revealed some variation in perception between rural (Jelhak) and urban (Renk) areas. Respondents from Renk area reported that some people use family planning services for economic reasons that involve alleviation of financial difficulties and provision of better education when the family size is small. On the other hand, rural people from Jelhak perceive family planning to be socially un-acceptable. Furthermore, men and women of Jelhak reported that after each birth of a child, married couples avoid sexual relationship for a period of two years as means of family planning. Women of both Urban and Rural settings reported intentions to use conventional methods of family planning without the knowledge of their spouses.

As a dynamic developmental process, the older population further displays the capacity to resist change over time, improve resilience, and keep a basis for the continuity working and progress over positive management of detrimental consequences of life risks and difficulties. This study aims at developing a theory that endeavors to explore the process of developing aging-related resiliency in people’s later in life that can lead to a successful aging experience. In the development of a theory, this study utilized a deductive reasoning approach specifically, using the axiomatic approach. Aging-related Resiliency Theory was efficaciously developed by three propositions generated from four axioms that were derived after reviewing several sets of literature and studies. This developed theory implies that various deleterious events in life activate older persons to respond, adapt, and recover effectively. Acceptance emerges as they acknowledge the natural effects of aging while taking adaptive strategies and supportive resources to be resilient to one’s environment. In this sense, it impacts their optimistic outlook towards successful aging. Based on the extraction of axioms, such propositions denoted those older adults call to respond with their total capacity to accept, adapt, recover, and continuously resist deleterious life experiences while using enriched coping strategies and resources towards an optimistic outlook in achieving successful aging. Therefore, emphasizing to improve their capacity to respond to natural decline to essential processes could benefit them at promoting a healthier life span.

Since before, many religions have used Zamzam water because they used it for treatment and other spiritual activities. This study reviews the composition, hydrology, and the effect of Zamzam water on human health. Zamzam water differs from regular water. Mineral deposits show it is alkaline and biologically has no biotic growth, and does not show toxicity signs. Zamzam is well-focused based on the expenditure of Makah hill. Zamzam well has been used for about 4000 years. Zamzam water is used for the treatment of many diseases. The data on Zamzam water composition, hydrology, and health benefits have been narratively reviewed. Future research is needed to investigate the other benefits and uses of Zamzam water on human health as antioxidants, antimicrobial, and its effects on cancer patients.