Objective: This study examined the effect of a 10-week intensive medical-surgical course on ability to perform 16 common, acute care skills among Philippine educated nursing students seeking licensure in California. The aims of the study were to (1) determine competency in performing skills at the start of the medical-surgical course and (2) evaluate the effectiveness of the medical-surgical course in improving skill competency.

Methods: Twenty-three Philippine educated nursing students participated in a 4-hour skills competency test procedure that involved 4 patient care stations and 16 common acute care skills. During the last week of the 10-week medical-surgical course that included 24 open simulation lab practice hours, these same 23 students repeated the testing procedure.

Results: At the start of the course skill competency scores were low with many of the participants unable to complete the skills stations. A significant improvement occurred in scores for 14 of the 16 skills when tested in the final week of the medical-surgical nursing course under the same conditions (p < .05).

Conclusions: Conducting the nursing skills competency testing procedure at the start of the course informed faculty about the abilities of Philippine educated nursing student participants. Because of potential differences in nursing education abroad, graduates of nursing programs in the Philippines might benefit from competency testing to evaluate initial skill levels, followed by intensive review of commonly performed nursing skills in the United States, if warranted by initial results.