Abstract
Background and aim: Nursing students require a comprehensive set of skills to provide high-quality patient care. While technical skills are well-emphasized in nursing curricula, soft skills are often overlooked. The present study aimed at assessing the perception of nursing students towards soft skills in clinical practice of selected Nursing college, Mangalore. Methods: A crosssectional research design was utilized. A convenient sampling method was adopted to recruit 249 nursing students. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire and 5-point rating scale comprising of 30 items. Results: The study results found that three fourth of the students 189 (76%) felt that soft skills are required in their clinical practice at the same time 91 (37%) students responded that they have no prior information on soft skills. More than half 133 (54%) of students had high perception and 116 (46%) of students had low perception towards need for soft skills. The student nurses equally perceived soft skill as a need in their clinical practice with an average of 109.68 ±13.10 and mean percentage of 73.12%. The highest mean percentage was obtained for the subdomain - team management 78.72% and more or less similar values were obtained for emotional intelligence (73.28%), confidentiality (74.36%) and communication (74.76%) respectively. Conclusion: The study concludes that including soft skills training in the nursing curriculum can help nurses provide quality patient care and enhance their professional image.