Chapter 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

Academic performance is measured by the standing of rates of grades
of student in every subject. Having a high level of performance on the
academic area of a student suggest its competency and high level of
confidence on its certain field. Students have their own attitude towards
learning and achieving a high level of academic performance. In order for a
student to succeed he needs to be armed with strategies and techniques that
will supplement his desire to reach his goals. One way is to have an efficient
and adaptive study habit (Borbon, 2011).
According to Sansgiry (2006) academic performance is associated with
students ability to manage their study load and is used to assess if students
are able to manage the study material in their performance and it also
provides an indication of whether the subject is interesting enough for students
to enjoy their classes. Academic performance has been shown to affect
students grade and a student with better academic performance would
probably have better clinical performances.
A nursing student encounters complex situations and conflicts which
cannot be resolved only through theoretical knowledge and skills. Moreover,
the nursing students are seeking professional knowledge as they go on
through series of studies and practice.


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Such situations may involve moral components that require the skills of
ethical decision making for nurses. Yet, learning the skills of ethical decision
making cannot be enough to resolve ethical problems due to many factors
including the complex nature of a given problem. Pursuing the professionalism
in the medicine industry gives a lot of stress in the part of
the students especially when they are entering the world of the real nursing
duty.
But the serious case that arises in some observation is that, the focus
they have in the first years of their study is not that intense. Therefore,
the students must make their way to create a new passage to accelerate in
their subject matter.
This study aimed to determine the academic performance of nursing
seniors in Anatomy and Physiology and in professional courses.
The researchers conducted this study, because they observed that
students who had a hard time in understanding Anatomy and Physiology
experienced difficulty studying in professional nursing courses.

Theoretical Framework
Nursing students have their own individual knowledge and training
acquired from their chosen universities that have a unique distinction from
other institutions in terms of styles and patterns of motivating students. Among
these are the ways that the educating faculty manages to disseminate


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knowledge to each and every student in the college effectively and how their
teaching plans and integrated methods and modules contribute in the
improvement of the theoretical bases of knowledge of students, all of which
then can be utilized by the students in the application of knowledge in different
situations.
This study is anchored on the facts laid by John Dewey about the
theory of Experience and Education wherein he stands to the idea that
experience arises from the interaction of two principles Continuity and
Interaction. He postulated that in Continuity, the learning experiences acquired
by the students have an influence on his/her future, be it for better or for
worse. Grounded on the same premise, he described Interaction as the
situational influence on ones experience. Therefore, the Theory of Dewey
about experiential learning suggests that interaction comes from the idea that
ones present experience is a function of the interaction between ones past
experience and the present situation (Neil, 2005).
Considering the reality that when it comes to nursing education,
everything is totally dynamic and nothing really stays as perfectly static as it is
form the day of discovery up to the day mentors are about to hand the
knowledge to their pupils, nursing students and educators must have this
hunger for continuous knowledge and experience for them to be satisfied and
at ease to call themselves qualified and competent health care providers.



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Operational Framework
The figure below showed the academic performance of the grades in
Anatomy and Physiology in relation to their NCM 100-105 grades accordingly.
The first box serves as the independent variable comprising of Anatomy and
Physiology subject grades. The second box serves as the dependent variable
comprising the Nursing Care Management 100-105 grades.
Independent Variable Dependent Variable




Figure 1
The conceptual framework showing the academic performance of the
Anatomy and Physiology and in the Nursing Care Management 101-105
Statement of the Problem
This study aim to determine the relationship between nursing seniors
academic performance in Anatomy and Physiology and in Professional
Courses. Specifically, this study sought to answer the following questions:

Academic
Performance in
Anatomy and
Physiology
Academic Performance in
Nursing Care
Management:

101
102
103
104
105


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1. What is the academic performance of nursing seniors in Anatomy and
Physiology?
2. What is the academic performance of the nursing seniors in terms of
the following professional courses?
2.1 NCM 101
2.2 NCM 102
2.3 NCM 103
2.4 NCM 104
2.5 NCM 105
3. Is there a significant relationship between the academic performances
in Anatomy and Physiology and the professional courses among
nursing seniors?
4. What will be the predictive academic performance in Professional
Nursing Courses in relation to the academic performance in Anatomy
and Physiology?

Hypothesis
There is no significant relationship between the academic performance
in Anatomy and Physiology and professional courses among nursing seniors.





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Assumptions of the Study
The researchers formulated the following assumptions:
1. One of the basic foundations of professional nursing subjects is
Anatomy and Physiology.
2. Students who are not academically good in Anatomy and
Physiology are not performing also academically in their
professional courses.
3. Nursing student should have a mastery of their courses in order to
surpass the professional subjects

Scope and Delimitation
This study aimed to determine the academic performance of the
nursing seniors in Anatomy and Physiology and professional courses. This
study was conducted at UPH Dr. Jose G. Tamayo Medical University and it
involved all the nursing seniors under new curriculum, A.Y. 2012-1013 of the
said university as its respondents. The grades of the nursing seniors were
gathered related to the problem identified above. The researchers used total
population of (58) fifty eight nursing seniors who have complete grades in
Anatomy and Physiology and professional courses.




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Significance of the Study
The results of the study are deemed important to the following:

Nursing Students. This research will help them realize the importance of the
Anatomy and Physiology subject as one of the basic foundations of
professional nursing course.
Faculty. The outcome of the study could serve as a guide for better
correlation of Anatomy and Physiology subject to clinical exposures and
maximum utilization of classroom instruction and clinical supervision.
Future Researchers. This study will serve as a guide to the future
researchers who will conduct study similar to this.

Definition of Terms:
The following terms utilize in the study were operationally and conceptually
defined as follows:
Anatomy and Physiology This course deals with the physiologic concepts,
principles and basic anatomical structure (CHED Memorandum Order No.14
Series of 2009).

Academic Performance this refers to how the nursing seniors deal with
their studies in Anatomy and Physiology and professional courses .The grades
obtained by the nursing seniors in Anatomy and Physiology and professional


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courses containing the related learning experience and lecture, where in an
average of 90 and above are excellent, 85 89 are very satisfactory, 80- 84
are satisfactory, 75 90 are fairly satisfactory and 74 and below are poor.

NCM 101 (Care of Mother, Child and Family) Principles and techniques of
caring for the normal mothers, infants, children and family and the application
of principles and concepts on family and family health nursing process (CHED
Memorandum Order No.14 Series of 2009).

NCM 102 (Care of Mother, Child, Family and Population group At-Risk or
with Problems) This course deals with the concept of disturbances & pre-
existing health problems of pregnant women and the pathologic changes
during intrapartum and post partum periods. This course further deals with the
common problems occurring during infancy to adolescence stage (CHED
Memorandum Order No.14 Series of 2009).

NCM 103 (Care of Clients with Problems in Oxygenation, Fluid and
Electrolyte Balance, Nutrition and Metabolism and Endocrine) This
course deals with the principles and techniques of nursing care management
of sick clients across lifespan with emphasis on the adult and the older person,
population group in any setting with alterations/problems in oxygenation, fluid


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and electrolyte balance, nutrition and metabolism and endocrine function
(CHED Memorandum Order No.14 Series of 2009).

NCM 104 (Care of Clients with Problems in Inflammatory and
Immunologic Response and Perception and Coordination) This course
deals with the concepts, principles and theories of human behavior and the
care of the sick client across the lifespan with emphasis on the adult and the
older person, population group experiencing alterations in inflammatory and
Immunologic Response and Perception and coordination in varied settings
(CHED Memorandum Order No.14 Series of 2009).

NCM 105 (Care of Clients with Maladaptive Patterns of Behavior) The
course is designed to focus on health and illness across the lifespan of clients,
population groups with acute and chronic psychosocial difficulties and
psychiatric illnesses (CHED Memorandum Order No.14 Series of 2009).

Nursing Seniors These are the students of UPH Dr. Jose G. Tamayo
Medical University 4
th
year level regular under new curriculum AY 2012 2013
2
nd
semester who surpass other professional courses.