KNOWLEDGE OF THE IMPORTANCE OF SOFT SKILLS IN NURSING PRACTICE AMONG NURSING STUDENTS IN A TERTIARY INSTITUTION IN BENIN CITY.

ABSTRACT

The Nursing profession just like the rest of the healthcare profession has evolved over the years. This study assessed knowledge of soft skills and the perception of its importance in Nursing practice among Nursing students in a tertiary institution, Benin City. A descriptive survey design was adopted in this study and the study’s population comprised of 156 nursing students in University of Benin. Convenient sampling was done to determine the sample size. A self-structured questionnaire was used to get data from the respondents which was validated by the researcher’s supervisor and yielded a reliability score of 0.81 during the pilot study. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentage and means were used to analyze the data obtained while Chi-square statistics was used to test the stated hypotheses of the study. The major findings in this study are: There is low level of knowledge of soft skills among nursing students in University of Benin. Nursing Students in University of Benin have negative perception of the importance of soft skills in nursing practice. There is a significant relationship between the level of knowledge of soft skills and the perception of their importance in nursing practice. There is a significant relationship between the perception of relevance of soft skills among nursing students and their academic level. In conclusion, this study found that perception of the relevance of soft skills among nursing students in University of Benin is negative and the overall level of knowledge of soft skills was low. Therefore, Hospitals should perform periodic surveys on patients need and expectations in the hospital so as to design the nursing care accordingly. Nurses should be provided with in-service, in-house and on-the-job trainings in the fields of “soft skills” and “their importance”, and those necessary arrangements be made accordingly. Nurses should listen to patient’s worries carefully thereby building their communication skills. Nursing training institutions should strengthen soft skills of students by emphasizing on their importance.

KEYWORDS: Knowledge, Perception, Soft skills and Nursing students