Perceived competence of Filipino nursing students graduating during pandemic

Abstract

Introduction: Given the importance of maintaining competence, limited published research is conducted in the local setting touching on the competence of nursing students graduating during the pandemic. This study determined graduating nursing students’ perceived fundamental nursing skills and core competence. Methods: The research design is quantitative descriptive cross-sectional. The study participants were the 102 graduating nursing students of a public university in Iloilo City, Philippines. The Perceived Competence of Filipino Nurses Questionnaire was used to gather data in May 2022 and these were analyzed using SPSS software version 23. Results: The results revealed that, while the majority of nursing students reported that their nursing competencies were greatly affected by the shift to the 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. Conclusions: Despite the reduced 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 that warrant further assessment, validation, and enhancement.