Quality Assurance in Philippine Colleges of Nursing: Difference in Quality of Nursing Education Programme According to Profile of Institutions

Background:The quality of nursing education in the Philippines cannot be questioned, considering employment of their graduates globally. This has increased the number of both public and private owned higher educational institutions (HEI) offering nursing programme, however, the quality of existing programme might be inadequate or not up to standard, particularly, programmes offered by private owned HEI.

Aim: This study assessed the quality of nursing programme among private-owned institutions in the Philippines and also investigated whether quality of nursing education programme will differ with respect to profile of HEI.

Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was employed using purposive sampling to enroll 185 faculty members from fifteen (15) HEI into the study. The research work was conducted within the duration of January, 1 – June, 30, 2015. Self-administered questionnaires based on the objectives of the study were given out to participants after their consent was sought. Descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentage were used to analyze characteristics of respondents and HEI. A one-way ANOVA was used to test for differences in quality of nursing programme according to profile of HEI.

Results: The quality in terms of curriculum and instruction, physical structure and equipment, and student services of nursing education programme differed significantly (p-value = 0.017), (p-value = 0.002) and (p-value = 0.034) with regards to years of existence of HEI. Similarly, curriculum and instruction, administration of nursing programmes, faculty development programme, physical structure and equipment, student services and quality assurance system differed significantly (p-value = 0.035), (p-value = 0.007) (p-value = 0.005), (p-value = 0.033), (p-value = 0.026) and (p-value = 0.005) with respect to Commission of Higher Education (CHED) status.

Conclusion: The years of existence of HEI and CHED status were significant contributors to quality of nursing programmes, particularly in the area of curriculum and instruction, administration of nursing education, faculty development programme, physical structure and equipment, students’ services and quality assurance system.