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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is still challenged by the shortage of nurses despite the improvement of its healthcare system's overall efficiency (Tandon et al., 2000). According to the Ministry of Health (MOH), Saudis only constitute 38% of the total workforce, in which 32.3% are nurses (Almalki et al., 2011). In 2012, the MOH reported that expatriate nurses accounted for 63.82% of the Saudi Arabia nursing workforce, most were from the Philippines or India. Because of the diverse nursing preparations of nurses working in Saudi Arabia, professional competencies in terms of "critical thinking and research aptitude," "clinical care," "leadership," "legal and ethical practice," "professional development," "interpersonal relationships" and "teaching and coaching" may somewhat be varied; thus, will affect the delivery of healthcare services to Saudi population.The concept of nursing competency has been extensively discussed in various literature in terms of quality nursing care and safety. Evidence highlights the importance for organizations to give attention to professional competency in nurses to maintain safety and quality service for its clientele (Heydari et al., 2016). Although

Objectives This study aimed to identify barriers in performing physical assessments among nursing students through integrative review study. Methods The literature were searched in Medline, CINAHL, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, ProQuest, and Taylor & Francis Online using the descriptors barrier, physical assessment, nursing student et al. Only English-language and peer-reviewed journal articles were included, and there were no year restrictions. Results Twelve articles were selected for review. Two aspects were extracted: the barriers included personal challenges, challenges related to nursing education, challenges related to clinical practice; establishing competency-based education learning as a method to reduce physical assessment barriers. Student competencies and experiences were influenced by various factors that collectively hindered their successful performance of physical assessments. Conclusions The review findings provide valuable insights into the complex issues involved in the performance of physical assessments and guidance for improvement in practice. A collaborative effort should be made to address the issues often faced by nursing students in performing routine physical assessments. Also, more constructive and competency-based teaching methods should be integrated into academic and clinical settings.

Objectives This study investigated the quality of life (QoL) of nursing internship students (NISs) and the predictive variables for the QoL of NISs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The correlates of QoL of NISs with their gender, age, prior nursing experience, and grade point average (GPA) from the previous semester are also assessed. Methods This study used a quantitative cross-sectional design through an electronic survey form for the collection of required data. The 22-item Quality of Life Evaluation Scale (QOLES) was adopted as the survey instrument. A total of 283 NISs from five public universities in KSA completed the survey. Results The students' age, gender, and nursing-related experience prior to their internship were all found to be significantly associated with the overall QOLES score ( p values of 0.001, 0.001, and 0.01, respectively). The NISs GPA was found to be marginally significant ( p = 0.08). A significant difference was identified in the overall QOLES score based on age ( p = 0.02), gender ( p = 0.02), and GPA ( p = <0.001). Finally, as estimated by the regression analysis, only age ( p = 0.002) was found to be a significant predictor of NISs’ QoL. Conclusion In this study, the QoL of Saudi NISs was positively correlated with their age and gender. Male NISs had greater QoL than females, while a high QoL was observed among students with high GPAs before the internship year. Only the age of the NISs was found to be a reliable predictor of QoL.