Perceived competence of Filipino nursing students graduating during pandemic

Abstract

Introduction: Given the importance of maintaining competence, there still is limited published research conducted in the local setting touching on the competence of nursing students graduating during the pandemic. This study determined the perceived fundamental nursing skills and core competence of graduating nursing students.
 Method: The research design is quantitative descriptive cross-sectional. The participants of the study were the 102 graduating nursing students of a public university in the Philippines. The researchers used the Perceived Competence of Filipino Nurses Questionnaire to gather data in May 2022 and were analyzed using SPSS software version 23.
 Results: The results revealed revealed that while majority of nursing students reported that their nursing competencies were greatly affected by the shift to online learning platform, most still had a high perception of their fundamental nursing skills competence (M=6.97) and core competence (M=8.03). The areas of elimination (M=5.41) and research (M=7.63) were the lowest ranked fundamental skill and core competencies, respectively. There was a significant difference (p< .05) in nursing students’ perceived competence based on self-reported academic performance.
 Conclusion: Despite the reduce exposure in the clinical setting due to the pandemic, graduating nursing students perceive themselves to be highly confident in their capabilities as future professional nurses. Nonetheless, areas for improvement were identified which warrant further assessment, validation, and enhancement.