Utilization of and self-efficacy in health assessment core skills among paulinian student nurses: A basis for course enhancement

Health assessment is a critical element of nursing practice, essential for identifying and managing patient health issues. This descriptive, inferential, and correlational study utilized stratified random sampling to evaluate health assessment core skills (HACS) utilization and self-efficacy among 212 second-year,third-year, and fourth-year Paulinian student nurses. A researcher-developed instrument demonstrated high internal consistency (Cronbach's alphas: 0.98 for HACS utilization, 0.97 for self-efficacy). The findings revealed a predominance of female participants, with third-year students showing notably high levels of HACS utilization (VHLU) and self-efficacy (VHLSE). While there was no significant difference in HACS utilization based on year level, there was a significant difference based on sex. Moreover, a strong positive correlation was found between HACS utilization and self-efficacy. Challenges identified included lack of time and too many interruptions, exposure to specialty areas, and no time due to increased workload, while top recommendations for improvement encompassed consistent practice, continuous review, and ongoing feedback. The study advocates for disseminating these results to enhance health assessment curricula and practices, and ultimately ensure high-quality nursing car.