Paul Reinald Base Garcia

Background/Objectives: The transition from theoretical knowledge to clinical practice poses significant challenges for nursing students globally. This critical period requires comprehensive educational support to build confidence and competence. While short-term preparatory courses have shown promise internationally, their effectiveness within the Saudi Arabian context remains understudied. This study aimed to evaluate nursing students’ satisfaction and self-confidence following participation in short-term preparatory courses conducted before clinical placements at Taibah University, Saudi Arabia. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from February to April 2025. Data were collected from 117 undergraduate nursing students (response rate: 80.7%) using a validated questionnaire adapted from the National League for Nursing’s Student Satisfaction and Self-Confidence in Learning instrument. The preparatory courses included nursing care plan development, hospital orientation, and infection control procedures delivered over two weeks. Statistical analysis included descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation analysis. Results: Students reported high levels of satisfaction (mean = 4.29 ± 0.92) and self-confidence (mean = 4.31 ± 0.81) scores. The highest satisfaction was with instructor effectiveness (mean = 4.31 ± 1.05) and teaching methods (mean = 4.32 ± 1.01). Students demonstrated strong confidence in personal learning responsibility (mean = 4.44 ± 0.88) and skill development (mean = 4.32 ± 0.95). A strong positive correlation existed between satisfaction and self-confidence (r = 0.79, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Short-term preparatory courses effectively enhanced nursing students’ satisfaction and self-confidence in the Saudi Arabian context. The strong correlation between these constructions suggests that educational interventions improving one dimension is likely to benefit the other. These findings support integrating structured preparatory programs into nursing curricula to facilitate successful clinical transitions.

Background: Saudi Arabia hosts a total of 39 nursing colleges dispersed across various regions. Nursing students are confronted with multiple stressors during their educational journey. We aim in this study to assess burnout using the Maslach Burnout Inventory questionnaire (MBI) and different coping strategies among undergraduate nursing students at the College of Nursing at Taibah University in Saudi Arabia. Methods: We utilized a questionnaire to execute a cross-sectional study on nursing students. We gathered data through a stratified convenient sample, whereby participants voluntarily contributed their responses. The questionnaire collected information on sociodemographic variables, as well as their scores on the MBI and coping strategies. We analyzed the data using a combination of descriptive, inferential, correlation, and logistic regression. Results: Our study involved 316 participants, 79% women. Academic levels ranged from Level 6 (39%) to Level 12 (22%). The median Grade Point Average (GPA) was 4.47, and self-clinical performance averaged 7. Burnout levels included 30% high emotional exhaustion, 59% high depersonalization, and 66% low personal accomplishment. Gender differences were significant for emotional exhaustion (p=0.04) but not for Depersonalization (p=0.201), personal accomplishment (p=0.944), or coping strategies (p=0.785). When stratified by burnout level, no significant gender-based differences were observed for emotional exhaustion (p=0.988), Depersonalization (p=0.407), or personal accomplishment (p=0.438). Emotional exhaustion correlated with Coping Strategies (p=0.001) and negatively with "Self-clinical performance rating (p Conclusion: Gender-based analysis revealed a significant difference in emotional exhaustion between men and women, while burnout levels did not significantly differ between genders. Additionally, correlations were observed between burnout dimensions and various factors, such as self-clinical performance, GPA, and coping strategies. Logistic regression analysis highlighted significant predictors for Depersonalization and personal accomplishment, with coping strategies emerging as the sole predictor for personal accomplishment

Introduction: There is a preponderance of studies on nurses’ research competency and its benefits to the nursing profession. However, investigations on nursing students’ research competency in the context of competency‐based education (CBE) remain underreported.Objective: This study investigated the predictors and associations of Saudi nursing students’ research competencies using CBE approach.Methods: This research used a descriptive, cross‐sectional design. A total enumeration sampling or census of 347 nursing students from three Saudi Arabian state universities who had finished the nursing research course was used. The 24‐item Research Competency Scale for Nursing Students (RCS‐N) was utilized to collect data, which was then analyzed using the chi‐squared test and logistic regression.Results: Most nursing students were familiar with the nursing research process. There is a strong link between research competencies and age and marks obtained in nursing research course. Age and nursing research course marks (A+/A) were significant predictors of nursing research competency. Thus, students who earned A+/A grades were three times more likely to be competent than those who had lower grades. Similarly, nursing students over the age of 20 years are twice as likely to be research competent as those under 20.Conclusion: As there are few reports on nursing research competency, CBE helps nursing research instructors create relevant intended learning outcomes (ILOs), allowing them to assess each research step's ILOs more efficiently. Additionally, incorporating functionalist, behaviorist, and constructivist learning theories into the CBE in nursing research course will be more beneficial.

The Changing Learning Needs of Saudi Student Nurses

This action research has sought answers to the following research questions: What are the problems encountered by the low performing students of different departments in terms of psychosocial, psychological and educational? What are the proposed specific measures geared towards the enhancement of learners’ academic performance? Researchers have utilized a mixed method research design, both quantitative and qualitative methods which gave them greater confidence in establishing conclusion of the study. They have figured out specific measures to address problems in terms of psychosocial, psychological and education domains confronting the subjects of the study. These proposed measures are adaptation of academic performance flow chart and the revised attendance grading scheme. The authors also suggest the preparatory department to create an English proficiency committee which will design English proficiency programs for this low performing group zeroing in listening, reading, writing and speaking proficiencies. They also propose for the College to use better software management system and to conduct an annual departmental curriculum review and enhancement. They have included all of the students with GPA 2.75 and less from different departments of Al-Ghad International College Dammam Male Campus, a large and young private academic institution which offers various health care programs as participants of the study. A self-made questionnaire has been constructed and has become the main tool to gather the necessary data and interview has done to dissect the variables under scrutiny. Researchers have also used a standardized test (Kessler Psychological Distress Scale) which determined the psychological distress status of the subject learners. The gathered numeric data have been tabulated, evaluated, analyzed and interpreted using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 22.