REPUBLIC ACT NO.

7432
AN ACT TO MAXIMIZE THE CONTRIBUTION OF SENIOR CITIZENS TO
NATION BUILDING, GRANT BENEFITS AND SPECIAL PRIVILEGES AND
FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
Section 1. Declaration of Policies and Objectives. — Pursuant to Article XV, Section
4 of the Constitution, it is the duty of the family to take care of its elderly members
while the State may design programs of social security for them. In addition to his,
Section 10 in the Declaration of Principles and State Policies provides: "The State
shall provide social justice in all phases of national development." Further, Article
XIII, Section 11 provides: "The State shall adopt an integrated and comprehensive
approach to health development which shall endeavor to make essential goods,
health and other social services available to all the people at affordable cost. There
shall be priority for the needs of the underprivileged, sick, elderly, disabled, women
and children." Consonant with these constitutional principles the following are the
declared policies of this Act:
(a) to motivate and encourage the senior citizens to contribute to
nation building;
(b) to encourage their families and the communities they live with to
reaffirm the valued Filipino tradition of caring for the senior citizens.
In accordance with those policies, this Act aims to:
(1) establish mechanisms whereby the contribution of the senior
citizens are maximized;
(2) adopt measures whereby our senior citizens are assisted and
appreciated by the community as a whole;
(3) establish a program beneficial to the senior citizens, their families
and the rest of the community that they serve.
Sec. 2. Definition of Terms. — As used in this Act, the term "senior citizen" shall
mean any resident citizen of the Philippines at least sixty (60) years old, including
those who have retired from both government offices and private enterprises, and
has an income of not more than Sixty thousand pesos (P60,000.00) per annum
subject to review by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA)
every three (3) years. The term "benefactor" shall mean any person whether related to the senior
citizens
or not who takes care of him/her as a dependent.
The term "head of the family" shall mean any person so defined in the National
Internal Revenue Code. chan robles virtual law library
Sec. 3. Contribution to the Community. — Any qualified senior citizen as
determined by the Office for Senior Citizen Affairs (OSCA) may render his/her
services to the community which shall consist of, but not limited to, any of the
following:
(a) tutorial and/or consultancy services;
(b) actual teaching and demonstration of hobbies and income
generating skills;
(c) lectures on specialized fields like agriculture, health,
environmental protection and the like;
(d) the transfer of new skills acquired by virtue of their training
mentioned in Section 4, paragraph d;
(e) undertaking other appropriate services as determined by the
Office of Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA) such as school traffic guide,
tourist aid, pre-school assistant, etc.
In consideration of the services rendered by the qualified elderly, the Office for
Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA) may award or grant benefits or privileges to the
elderly, in addition to the other privileges provided for under Section 4 hereof.
Sec. 4. Privileges for the Senior Citizens. — The senior citizens shall be entitled to
the following:
(a) the grant of twenty percent (20%) discount from all
establishments relative to utilization of transportation services,
hotels and similar lodging establishment, restaurants and
recreation centers and purchase of medicine anywhere in the
country: Provided, That private establishments may claim the cost
as tax credit;
(b) a minimum of twenty percent (20%) discount on admission fees
charged by theaters, cinema houses and concert halls, circuses,
carnivals and other similar places of culture, leisure, and amusement; (b) exemption from the payment
of individual income taxes: Provided,
That their annual taxable income does not exceed the property
level as determined by the National Economic and Development
Authority (NEDA) for that year;
(c) exemption from training fees for socioeconomic programs
undertaken by the OSCA as part of its work;
(e) free medical and dental services in government establishment
anywhere in the country, subject to guidelines to be issued by the
Department of Health, the Government Service Insurance System and
the Social Security System;
(f) to the extent practicable and feasible, the continuance of the same
benefits and privileges given by the Government Service Insurance
System (GSIS), Social Security System (SSS) and PAG-IBIG, as the
case may be, as are enjoyed by those in actual service.
Sec. 5. Government Assistance. — The Government shall provide the following
assistance to those caring for and living with the senior citizen:
(a) The senior shall be treated as dependents provided for in the
National Internal Revenue Code and as such, individual taxpayers
caring for them, be they relatives or not shall be accorded the
privileges granted by the Code insofar as having dependents are
concerned.
(b) Individuals or non-governmental institutions establishing homes,
residential communities or retirement villages solely for the senior
citizens shall be accorded the following:
(1) realty tax holiday for the first five (5) years starting
from the first year of operation;
(2) priority in the building and/or maintenance of
provincial or municipal roads leading to the aforesaid
home, residential community or retirement village.
Sec. 6. Retirement Benefits. — To the extent practicable and feasible, retirement
benefits from both the Government and the private sectors shall be upgraded to be
at par with the current scale enjoyed by those in actual service.
Sec. 7. The Office for Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA). — There shall be established
in the Office of the Mayor an OSCA to be headed by a Councilor who shall be designated by the
Sangguniang Bayan and assisted by the Community Development
Officer in coordination with the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
The functions of this office are:
(a) to plan, implement and monitor yearly work programs in
pursuance of the objectives of this Act;
(b) to draw up a list of available and required services which can be
provided by the senior citizens;
(c) to maintain and regularly update on a quarterly basis the list of
senior citizens and to issue nationally uniform individual
identification cards which shall be valid anywhere in the country;
(d) to service as a general information and liaison center to serve the
needs of the senior citizens.
Sec. 8. Municipality Responsibility. — It shall be the responsibility of the
municipality through the mayor to ensure that the provisions of this Act are
implemented to its fullest.
Sec. 9. Penalties. — Violation of any provision of this Act for which no penalty is
specifically provided under any other law, shall be punished by imprisonment not
exceeding one (1) month or a fine not exceeding One thousand pesos (P1,000.00) or
both.
Sec. 10. Implementing Rules and Regulations. — The Secretary of Social Welfare
and Development, jointly with the Department of Finance, the Department of
Tourism, the Department of Health, the Department of Transportation and
Communications and the Department of Interior and Local Government shall issue
the necessary rules and regulations to carry out the objectives of this Act.
Sec. 11. Appropriation. — The necessary appropriation for the operation and
maintenance of the OSCA shall be appropriated and approved by the local
government units concerned. The National Government shall appropriate such
amount, as may be necessary to carry out the objectives of this Act.chan robles
virtual law library
Sec. 12. Repealing Clause. — All provisions of laws, orders, decrees, including rules
and regulations inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed and/or modified
accordingly.
Sec. 13. Separability Clause. — If any part or provision of this Act shall be held to
be unconstitutional or invalid, other provisions hereof which are not affected
thereby shall continue to be in full force and effect. Sec. 14. Effectivity. — This Act shall take effect
fifteen (15) days following its
publication in one (1) national newspaper of general circulation.

A. General information
1. Critical care nursing deals with human responses to life-threatening problems and includes the critically ill patient, the
critical care nurse, and the critical care environment.
2. It is the field of nursing with a focus on the care of the critically ill or unstable patients.
3. Care is provided to patients of all ages with alterations in physical or emotional health.
4. The critical care nurse coordinates interventions aimed at resolving life-threatening problems.
5. Critical care nurses can be found working in a wide variety of environments and specialties, such as emergency
departments and the intensive care units.
B. Critically Ill Patient
1. Critically ill patients are defined as those patients who are at high risk for actual or potential life-threatening health
problems.
2. The critically ill patient is at high risk for developing life-threatening problems and requires constant, intensive,
multidisciplinary assessment and intervention to restore stability, prevent complications, and achieve and maintain optimal
responses
3. The more critically ill the patient is, the more likely he or she is to be highly vulnerable, unstable and complex, thereby
requiring intense and vigilant nursing care.
C. History of Critical Care Nursing
1. Critical care began as a component of recovery rooms before expanding into coronary care units in the 1960s
2. The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) was organized in 1969
3. A competency-based examination was developed in 1975 to provide certification in critical care nursing; certification is
valid for 3 years; available for adult, neonatal, and pediatric certification
4.The AACN developed Standards for Nursing Care of the Critically Ill in 1981 to explain the role of the critical care nurse in
ensuring quality care for critically ill patients and their families
C. Critical care environment
1. Units may be specially designated as medical, surgical, coronary, pediatric, neonatal, recovery, or postanesthesia or may
encompass other areas in some institutions
2. Adequate resources (emergency equipment, supplies, and support systems) are necessary for safe care
3. A management and administrative structure is required to ensure effective care through all phases of the patient’s hospital
stay, from emergency department to discharge
4. Legal, regulatory, social, economic, and political trends must be monitored to promote the early recognition of problems
and a timely response
5. Specialized electronic technology and techniques are used to monitor patient status continuously; these may create safety
hazards for patients, such as possible exposure to electric shock
D. Roles of the critical care nurse
1. Care provider: provides comprehensive—and at times highly technical—direct care to the patient and family in response to
life-threatening health problems
2. Educator: provides patient and family with education based on their learning needs and the severity of the situation and
allows the patient to assume more responsibility for meeting health care needs as health condition stabilizes or improves
3. Manager: coordinates the care provided by various health care workers to achieve the specific goal of providing optimal
nursing care to critically ill patients
4. Advocate: protects the patient’s rights
E. Functions of the critical care nurse
1. Assesses and implements treatment for patient responses to life-threatening health problems
2. Provides direct measures to resuscitate, if necessary
3. Uses independent, dependent, and interdependent interventions to restore stability, prevent complications, and achieve
and maintain optimal patient responses
4. Provides health education to the patient and family
5. Supervises patient care and ancillary personnel
6. Supports patient adaptation, restores health, and preserves the patient’s rights, including the right to refuse treatment
F. Legal issues affecting the provision of critical care nursing
1. Negligence
2. MALPRACTICE
3. INFORMED CONSENT
4. Implied consent
5. Advanced directives, including DURABLE POWER OF ATTORNEY and living wills
G. Qualifications of a Critical Care Nurse
1. To become a registered nurse (RN), an individual must earn a diploma in nursing, an associate’s degree in nursing (ADN)
or a bachelor’s degree in nursing (BSN) and pass a national licensing exam.
2. Requirements vary and are dictated by each state’s Board of Nursing. Many nursing schools offer students exposure to
critical care, but most of a critical care nurse’s specialty education and orientation is provided by the employer. Advanced
practice nurses must earn a degree at the master’s or doctoral level.
3. Although certification is not mandatory for practice in a specialty like critical care, many nurses choose to become certified.
Some employers prefer to hire certified nurses because they have demonstrated acquisition of a specific high level of
knowledge in their specialty through successful completion of a rigorous, psychometrically valid, job-related examination.
4. Certification examinations test critical care knowledge primarily at the application/analysis level, which indicates strong
critical thinking abilities.
5. A required number of clinical hours in the specialty are also an examination prerequisite. Certified nurses validate their
continuing knowledge of current practices in critical care nursing through a renewal process every three years, which
includes meeting extensive continuing education and clinical experience requirements.
6. Certified critical care nurses (CCRN) must have been in critical care practice for a minimum of two years to be eligible for
the examination.