Introduction:

The assessment of the nursing professional’s specific competencies in the care of the critical neonate allows to diagnose their level of development in view of proposing alternatives that boost professional improvement in neonatal intensive care units.

Objective:

To assess the specific competencies of nursing professionals in charge of critical neonate care in neonatal intensive care units.

Methods:

Descriptive-observational study, 161 nursing professionals from the Neonatal Intensive Care Units of Santiago de Cuba participated, from January 2017 to January 2018. The competencies were assessed based on a parameterization for decomposing the variable into dimensions and indicators. Three assessment instruments were applied to the study group of professionals and a methodological triangulation was carried out based on the dimensional results obtained by the instruments.

Results:

The most affected dimensions were the clinical-surgical and scientific update. In the methodological triangulation, 4.17 was obtained as weighted average, which means that the variable is affected with a medium level of development.

Conclusions:

The assessment of the competences allowed to declare that the assessed variable is in a medium level of development. From the analysis of the indicators, an inventory of problems and potentialities was obtained that justify a methodological proposal that stimulates the professional improvement for the development of the specific competencies of nursing professionals for the care of the critical neonate.

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