Nursing is one of the noblest courses in the land.

It deals with
the health of the people in a Christian way, by showing
love and compassion to clients and patients. One
profession that undeniably contribute to the national
stability because of its abiding interest in the preservation
of people·s health and promotion of health consciousness
and well being, it is the nursing profession. There are
professions that are noble due to their significance; one of
such profession is nursing which is concerned with the
promotion of health awareness. An anonymous writer
described nursing as ´a perceived as a deliberate action
of a personal and assisting nature.µ

ecoming a Nurse Practitioner is a great career path. Quality nursing
care is in serious demand, and the pay is exceptional. A nurse
practitioner serves as primary and specialty care providers,
providing a blend of nursing and health care services to patients
and families.

The most common specialty areas for nurse practitioners are family
practice, adult practice, women's health, pediatrics, acute care,
and geriatrics. There are also a variety of other specialties that
nurse practitioners can choose, including neonatology and mental
health.
Nurse practitioners have completed advanced educational degrees
beyond a
achelor Degree. Typically, a Nurse Practitioner will
complete either a Master's Degree or a Doctorate Degree. This
advanced and specialized training allows the Nurse Practitioner to
administer many different types of health care services to patients.
Most RNs work in well-lit, comfortable healthcare facilities. Home health
and public health nurses travel to patients' homes, schools,
community centers, and other sites. RNs may spend considerable
time walking, bending, stretching, and standing. Patients in hospitals
and nursing care facilities require 24-hour care; consequently, nurses
in these institutions may work nights, weekends, and holidays. RNs
also may be on call³available to work on short notice. Nurses who
work in offices, schools, and other settings that do not provide 24-
hour care are more likely to work regular business hours. About 20
percent of RNs worked part time in 2008.
The study aims to know the study practices of board topnotchers.
Specifically, this research will answer the following queries:
What are the study practices of board topnotchers?
What are the factors affecting the study practices of board
topnotchers?
Have you thought that you will become one of the topnotchers?
How does it feel like after knowing that you topped the board exam?
What are the significant statements of the respondents?
What are the major themes that can be extracted from the
informants· statements?
The results of the study may benefit the following:

Nurses.
A health care professional who, in collaboration with other
members of a health care team, is responsible for: treatment,
safety, and recovery of acutely or chronically ill individuals;
health promotion and maintenance within families, communities
and populations; and, treatment of life-threatening emergencies
in a wide range of health care settings. Nurses perform a wide
range of clinical and non-clinical functions necessary to the
delivery of health care, and may also be involved in medical
and nursing reearch.
(ecturers.
indings from the study may aid in understanding the variety
of learning and the type of students they have. To help
them build up more effective methodologies in teaching
their subject matter.
Students.
The result of the study will make them aware of the common
study practices of the topnotchers that they can also use in
the future. The paper can also be an inspiration and
motivation for students to pursue themselves to be a
topnotcher.
School Administrators.
The study may also serve as a basis of future educational
policies, set of courses and strategies to a more effective
delivery of learning.
Nursing Education.
Consists in the theorical and practical training provided to nurses
with the purpose to prepare them for their duties as nursing care
professionals. This education is provided to nursing students by
experienced nurses and other medical professionals who have
qualified or experienced for educational tasks. Most countries
offer nurse education courses that can be relevant to general
nursing or to specialized areas including mental health nursing,
pediatric nursing and post-operatory nursing. Courses leading to
autonomous registration as a nurse typically last four years. Nurse
education also provides post-qualification courses in specialist
subjects within nursing.
The study is limited on the study practices of nursing board
topnotchers. The study will be conducted at Our Lady of atima
University in Valenzuela City on the timeframe of January to
ebruary 2011. Three (3) informants will be interviewed to gather
pertinent data. Semi structured questions will be used.
(earning
According to Stephen Edwards learning to study is like
learning to ride a bike- once you get it you have the skills for
life.
ut that does not mean that there are not bumps and
bruises along the way. There sure are and it is no easy task
to learn (or relearn for older students) how to make yourself
into a studying machine. If you learn to study properly, you
will gain time, energy and self-confidence. Learn to learn
and enjoy the benefits. (Edwards, 2007)
The Dunns' Learning-Style Model is complex and encompasses 5 strands of 21 elements that affect
each individual's learning. Some of these elements are biological and others are
developmental. Style changes over time. A summary of these elements is provided below
(Dunn, 2000).
V
   › The environmental strand refers to these elements: lighting, sound, temperature,
and seating arrangement. or example, some people need to study in a cool and quiet
room, and others cannot focus unless they have music playing and it is warm (sound and
temperature elements).
V 
This strand includes the following elements: motivation, persistence, responsibility, and
structure. or example, some people must complete a project before they start a new one,
and others work best on multiple tasks at the same time (persistence element).
   › The sociological strand represents elements related to how individuals learn in
association with other people: (a) alone or with peers, (b) an authoritative adult or with a
collegial colleague, and (c) learning in a variety of ways or in routine patterns. or example, a
number of people need to work alone when tackling a new and difficult subject, while others
learn best when working with colleagues (learning alone or with peers element).
!
  
The elements in this strand are: perceptual (auditory, visual, tactile, and kinesthetic),
time-of-day energy levels, intake (eating or not while studying) and mobility (sitting still or
moving around). or example, many people refer to themselves as night owls or early birds
because they function best at night or in the morning (time-of-day element).
!
    › The elements in this strand correspond to the following types of psychological
processing: hemispheric, impulsive or reflective, and global versus analytic. The hemispheric
element refers to left and right brain processing modes; the impulsive versus reflective style
describes how some people leap before thinking and others scrutinize the situation before
moving an inch. Global and analytic elements are unique in comparison to other elements
because these two elements are made up of distinct clusters of elements found in the other
four strands. The elements that determine global and analytic processing styles are: sound,
light, seating arrangement, persistence, sociological preference, and intake. Global and
analytic processing styles will be discussed in detail in the next section.
Social (earning Theory
People learn through observing others· behavior, attitudes, and outcomes of
those behaviors. ´Most human behavior is learned observationally through
modeling: from observing others, one forms an idea of how new behaviors
are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a
guide for action.µ (
andura, 1977). Social learning theory explains human
behavior in terms of continuous reciprocal interaction between cognitive,
behavioral, and environmental influences.
Necessary conditions for effective modeling:
Attention ³ various factors increase or decrease the amount of attention paid.
Includes distinctiveness, affective valence, prevalence, complexity,
functional value. One·s characteristics (e.g. sensory capacities, arousal level,
perceptual set, past reinforcement) affect attention.
Retention ³ remembering what you paid attention to. Includes symbolic coding,
mental images, cognitive organization, symbolic rehearsal, motor rehearsal
Reproduction ³ reproducing the image. Including physical capabilities, and self-
observation of reproduction.
Motivation ³ having a good reason to imitate. Includes motives such as a past
(i.e. traditional behaviorism), promised (imagined incentives) and vicarious
(seeing and recalling the reinforced model)

andura believed in ´reciprocal determinismµ, that is, the world
and a person·s behavior cause each other, while behaviorism
essentially states that one·s environment causes one·s behavior,

andura, who was studying adolescent aggression, found this too

simplistic, and so in addition he suggested that behavior causes
environment as well. Later,
andura soon considered personality
as an interaction between three components: the environment,
behavior, and one·s psychological processes (one·s ability to
entertain images in minds and language).
!ercentage of Board !assers
In the Philippines there were hundred of thousands
students taking nursing exam.

Most of the Students who take up nursing are females about

70 % of the Student

population taking nursing. Usually before the result has been

uploaded in the internet to

show the list of names of students in who pass the exam

there are many parents, friends,

classmates, teachers and specially students who take the

nursing exam are searching and

hoping that they pass the exam.

!hilippine Nursing (icensure Exam (!N(E) Results ² July 2010
August 27, 2010 Ë The results of the July 2010 !hilippines Nurse
(icensure Examination has been released. More than 37,679 out
of 91,008 takers passed the exam ³ a 41.40% passing rate.
!hilippine Nursing (icensure Exam (!N(E) Results ² November 2009
A total of 37, 527 out of 94,462 examinees passed the Nursing Exam in
the Philippines held on November 2009. This translates to a passing
rate of 39.73%, lower compared to the previous passing rates as
seen below.
!hilippine Nursing (icensure Exam (!N(E) Results ² June 2009
Around 42% of all examinees in the June 2009 Nursing Exam in the
Philippines passed the board exam.
A total of 32,617 out of 77,901 passed the Nurse Licensure
Examination
!hilippine Nursing (icensure Exam (!N(E) Results ² November 2008
Around 39,455 out of 88,649 examinees that took the November 2008
Nursing
oard Exam passed, according to the Professional
Regulatory Commission (PRC). The passing rate is 44.51%.
!hilippine Nursing (icensure Exam (!N(E) Results ² June 2007
Of the 64,909 takers, who included first-timers, repeaters and
voluntary ´retakers,µ 31,275 ³ or 48% ³ passed the exam given
by the Professional Regulation Commission·s
oard of Nursing
(
ON).
School of Nursing
Specialized practice of professional nursing that advances
the well being, academic success, and life-long
achievement of students. To that end, school nurses try to
facilitate positive student responses to normal human
development; promote health and safety in the school
environment; intervene with actual and potential health
problems; provide case management services; and actively
collaborate with others to build student and family capacity
for adaptation, self-management, self-advocacy, and
learning.
Nursing !ractice
Actual provision of nursing care. In providing care, nurses
implement the nursing care plan using the nursing process.
This is based around a specific nursing theory which is
selected based on the care setting and population served.
In providing nursing care, the nurse uses both nursing
theory and best practice derived from nursing research.
Although nursing practice varies both through its various
specialities and countries, these nursing organizations offer
the following definitions:
1.Nursing encompasses autonomous and collaborative care of individuals of all ages,
families, groups and communities, sick or well and in all settings. Nursing i includes the
promotion of health, prevention of illness, and the care of ill, disabled and dying people.
Advocacy, promotion of a safe environment, research, participation in shaping health
policy and in patient and health systems management, and education are also key
nursing
roles.

2.The use of clinical judgement in the provision of care to enable people to improve,
maintain, or recover health, to cope with health problems, and to achieve the best
possible quality of life, whatever their disease or disability, until death."

3. Nursing is the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities;

prevention of illness and injury; alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and
treatment of human responses; and advocacy in health care for individuals, families,
communities, and populations.

¢› The unique function of the nurse is to assist the individual, sick or well, in the
performance of those activities contributing to health or its recovery (or to peaceful
death) that he would perform unaided if he had the necessary strength, will or knowledge.
 O T! T

àN! T !ROCESS
Interview
oard
Study Practices TopNotchers
of
oard Observation
TopNotchers Coding of Data
Cheers to
Success
Mental health. The condition of being sound mentally and emotionally
that is characterized by the absence of mental disorder (as
neurosis or psychosis) and by adequate adjustment especially as
reflected in feeling comfortable about oneself, positive feelings
about others, and ability to meet the demands of life.

(earning !rocess. Is acquiring new knowledge, behaviors, skills, values,

preferences or understanding, and may involve synthesizing
different types of information. The ability to learn is possessed by
humans, animals and some machines. Progress over time tends to
follow learning curves.

(earning Modality. The fact, state, or quality of being modal. A

tendency to conform to a general pattern or belong to a particular
group or category.
Education. The transmission of knowledge from one generation to
another by means of directinstruction. Although educational
processes exist in all societies, it is only in the modern period that
mass education has taken the form of schooling that is, instruction
in specialized educational environments in which individuals spend
several years of their lives.

Reciprocal determinism. It is the theory set forth by psychologist Albert

andura that a person's behavior both influences and is influenced
by personal factors and the social environment.
andura accepts
the possibility of an individual's behavior being conditioned
through the use of consequences. At the same time he asserts that
a person's behavior (and personal factors, such as cognitive skills
or attitudes) can impact the environment.

Nursing Care !lan

A outlines the nursing care to be provided to a patient. It is a set of
actions the nurse will implement to resolve nursing problems
identified by assessment. The creation of the plan is an
intermediate stage of the nursing process. It guides in the ongoing
provision of nursing care and assists in the evaluation of that care.
(wiki, 10)
Research Design
Qualitative research design is used in understanding and describing the world
of human experience. ´The ultimate qualitative research is to offer a
perspective of situation and provide well written research reports that
reflects the researcher·s ability to illustrate or describe the corresponding
phenomena ´. One of the greatest strength of the qualitative approach is
the richness and depth of explorations and descriptions.

Phenomenology Study describes the structures experience as they present

themselves to consciousness, without recourse of theory, deduction, or
assumptions from the disciplines.

The researcher used Standardized, Open-ended Interview for data

collection where in the interviewer may prefer the same open-ended
questions being asked to all interviewees. This kinds of interview facilitates
faster interview that can be more easily analyzed and compared.
Standardized, Open-ended Interview is far more personal form of research
than questionnaire where, the interviewer may works directly with the
respondents and has the opportunity to probe or ask follow-up questions.

The researcher used Purposive Data Sampling where, they illustrates the
characteristics, practices, and study habits of particular subgroups of
board topnotchers and facilitates it·s comparisons.
(ocal the !opulation of the Study

The study was conducted on Our Lady of atima University located

at 120 Mc. Arthur Highway Valenzuela City. This university known
for producing a lot of Topnotchers for the past 5 years ago. It is
founded by Mr. Vicente Santos. The university aims to improve the
students not only in their academic ability but also their individual
characters.
Data Gathering, ànstrumentation and
!rocedures

The Letters of permission were secured from Mrs. Lurceli

Santos, RN, RM, MAN Dean of College of Nursing, Mr.
Michael Joseph Diño, RN, PhD(c) , NCM 104 and
Research Coordinator and Ms. Aura Ydda Alyne
Toreja, RN, MAN Research Adviser. The Letters was then
presented on the selected board topnotchers who are
our respondents.
Guided questions are carefully made and checked by
our Research Adviser. The Interviews was conducted
last ebruary 7, 14 and 16, 2011 at Our Lady of atima
University. After the interview the researchers gathered
and collected data. Guided by the given questions. All
gathered data was carefully evaluated and by the
researchers.
This chapter answers the question identified in Chapter 1
under the Statement of the Problem by presenting,
analyzing and interpreting the data gathered by
interviewing the respondents.
Synthesis

Xnowing the feelings that were expressed by the

oard topnotchers.
The way they handle the things that may affect on their review and
study. The feelings that they experience before, during and after.
The emotion they felt after taking the board exam.

FàG RE 2: Board Topnotchers: Cheers to Success

Cheers to Success

The board topnotchers feelings and perception on

achieving their ultimate goal.

!RAYERS
One of the major theme that emerged from the informant is
the: PRAYERS.

Considering the most powerful weapon that they have in their lives.

´ =
   = =       

 =

    

  = ››       ››

    =     
   ››

àNS!àRATàON

As we have seen in this study, we find out that this is the

main reason of the informants

to continue pursuing their dreams, goals and perception in each

individual.

´
  ››     =  

     

  = 
=››

  =    
  =       
 
    =

   

  
  = ››

   =››

DàSCà!(àNE

They simply identified this word as the ability to control

yourself when faced with temptation or when faced with
trying circumstances whatever they may be and there is a
discipline, meaning something that is studied carefully,
pursued for self-improvement or simply followed as a way
of life, be it an art, a hobby or a religion.
´  =  =    
  = ››

   =         
 =  ›
1. ROUTINES Ë each of them have special routines in regards of studying.

´  =  
 
 =    =   =   

›

        =   =
       

 ››
2. LOCATION and TIME Ë they also have different place and time during studying.

´
 
  =       = =   
 =    =

 == ›

  
            = ››

      
›    =  
   

 ››

3. DIET Ë they also have different types of foods to eat everytime of reviewing.

´
     = = 
 =    =

 =  ››


 =   

  
 ››


      =   = =  =   =››

 FàG RE 3:
Board Topnotchers: Releasing !roblems
STRESS AND ANXàETY

All of our informants has there own experiences of stress and anxiety during their
study

moments and the day of examination.

ut all of them also have different ways to relieve
their

strees and anxiety to set aside their problems.

´     

 

 
   
 
 
=   
  ››

   = = 
  
 
 › 
   =



  =   =          

 
  

=    
 =   
      



   =       = 
   ››

     = 

 =      ›


=   = = 
 =   = 

= 
››
This chapter shows the summary of the findings of the study,
moderatum generalization and recommendation that
were drawn out through the study of the researchers.
Summary of Findings
The researchers conducted this study to determine the feelings and
perceptions of a nursing student. As the result of the study, the
researchers summarized the following:

The informant·s personal view is aiming only one goal to fulfill their dreams.
The informants were slightly pressured by the said implementation. It
made them more focused on studying their previous and present NCM
concepts and took their integrated review subject more seriously. They
prepared themselves well for the upcoming board examination since
they feel and know that the board exam would gauge their capability
and competence in passing the board exams.
After achieving their task, the informans thad a feeling of Happiness and
Satisfaction
Here are some significant statements by the informants:
*Even if your too good in answering questions if you wouldn·t takes GODs
first your nothing.(=
   = =       

=
    
  = ››       

*The only key is you to have discipline.(   =  =    

  = ››

My number one inspiration is my family, especially my

parents.(   =  =      =›
Moderatum Generalization

ased on the interview conducted, three (3) top notchers, the

researchers realized that despite of their struggles facing in
their lives still they reach the success they wanted to
achieve.
The lessons learned from this study is put more effort and put
more discipline in their selves for them to maintain the
knowledge and to prioritized one goal that helps increase
the self confidence, socialization ability, their knowledge and
skills. It also helps them to be more serious and focus to their
assigned task. Above all it leads them to the feelings of
contentment, satisfaction and happiness.
Recommendations
Guided by the moderatum generalization, the researchers hereby
recommends the following:
1. The students must be serious as early as possible in studying their
concepts for it will give them stock knowledge that could be use
while reviewing.
2. The nursing faculty instructors should keep improving their teaching
techniques as this will help not only those students who are about to
take the board examination, but also the nursing students of the
college to improve their knowledge on the nursing profession.
3. Parents should give motivation to their children in reviewing seriously
through providing moral and emotional support as they need it as a
continuous reinforcement aside from the support they are receiving
from the schools, professors and reviewers.
4. The 3 board topnotchers expresses their thought and feelings on
the things that happened to them during the time they knew
that they we·re on the top.
5. They explain to us the things that they have done before during
and after they passed and become the nursing board
topnotchers.