World Education Connect Multidisciplinary e-Publication, Vol. V, Issue XII (December 2025), pp.319-334
Ronald Dela Cruz Rosales, RN
Master of Arts in Nursing (MAN) Student
Wesleyan University–Philippines
Abstract
Third-year nursing students are expected to demonstrate increasing independence across cognitive, psychomotor, and affective domains; however, clinical supervision in a Philippine government hospital setting reveals persistent competency gaps that compromise patient safety and student confidence.
This reflective analysis draws on two semesters of firsthand observations as a clinical instructor in a medical–surgical ward and integrates contemporary literature on clinical learning and theory–practice alignment. Recurrent challenges were observed in medication administration, intravenous therapy, equipment handling, communication, and professional socialization. These difficulties were frequently associated with clinical anxiety, cognitive overload, limited simulation-based preparation, and curricular misalignment. Students often relied on procedural memorization rather than clinical reasoning when performing routine tasks.
Educator-driven strategies are proposed, including structured medication-safety checks, targeted simulation and just-in-time skills refreshers, and communication-focused objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) with guided debriefings, to promote safer clinical performance and a smoother transition to practice.
Keywords: Clinical Instruction, Nursing Education, Competence, LASA Errors, Theory–Practice Gap, Patient Safety, Clinical Supervision, Clinical Rotations, Third-Year Nursing Students, Clinical Socialization
