Preparedness of Nursing International Students for their Clinical Learning in the Philippines

The Republic of the Philippines is well known for producing quality nurses for the medical field around the world. It is not uncommon to find Filipino nurses in prestigious hospitals in many hospitals both in First World and Third World countries. This excellent record of performance has most likely been one of the reasons why there is an increase in the number of international students coming to the Philippines to complete their nursing degrees. One foreseeable challenge that international nursing students must face in the Philippines is effective communication with patients during their clinical learning. Little is known about how these students are prepared to communicate effectively in a context that is so culturally diverse from their own. Using focus groups design, four groups of nursing students were interviewed to explore their lived experiences pertaining to the preparedness for their multicultural communication for the Philippine hospital settings. Results will help understand how effectively international nursing students are prepared to communicate with their Philippine patients.