Quality of Nursing Courses as Perceived by Students: Relationship with Their Academic Achievement in Palestine College of Nursing

Yousif Mahmoud Awad

Faculty of Intermediate Studies, University of Palestine, Gaza Strip, Gaza, Palestine.

DOI: 10.4236/ojn.2015.51005                

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the Bachelor Science of Nursing (BSN), student’s perceptions of the quality of nursing courses taught at Palestine College of Nursing (PCN), which were fundamentals of nursing course, adult nursing course, pediatric nursing course, maternity nursing course, community nursing course, mental health and psychiatric nursing course and nursing management and leadership course, and its relationship with their academic achievement. The Palestine College of Nursing is governmental and Ministry of Health (MOH) affiliated. The sample included 467 nursing students registered in the college who studied the previously mentioned nursing courses. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire developed by the researcher, and guided by literature. That was to assess the included nine quality dimensions of the nursing courses as perceived by the students. Content validity and reliability tests were done for the tool. The study revealed that the total students’ perceptions of the quality of all nurses courses were within average quality level (80.42%). The nursing management course and community health nursing course were of the first two ranks of high quality level (84.54%, and 84.48%, respectively), where mental health and psychiatric nursing course, fundamentals of nursing course, adult health nursing course, pediatric nursing course and maternity health nursing course were the next ranks of average quality level. The study revealed that students’ perceptions of seven dimensions from nine were with average quality level (80.50%). The first rank was the “teacher/instructor characteristics and attributes”, dimension of high quality level (84.44%), while the last rank was “teaching methodology” dimension of average quality level (77.54%). There was a positive relationship between students’ achievement and the courses’ quality dimensions, pertaining objectives of the course, contents of the course, teacher/instructor competencies, teacher characteristics, teaching methodology, students/teacher interaction and course evaluation. The study recommended improving the quality of nursing courses for better level and to improve the quality of some dimensions like using different teaching strategies, the quality of clinical settings, and improve the quality of nursing instructors in some clinical areas. Finally the researcher recommend for further studies about concerning quality in nursing education.

Keywords

Nursing Education, Quality, Curriculum, Student’s Perceptions, Achievement

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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