- Title
- Perceptions of nurse unit managers regarding the preparedness for practice of newly- qualified professional nurses trained at a public college of nursing in the Eastern Cape
- Creator
- Piet, Sheila Ann
- Subject
- Nursing -- Practice -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Subject
- Nurses -- Training of -- South Africa School-to-work transition -- South Africa Nurses -- In-service training -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Date Issued
- 2019
- Date
- 2019
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Masters
- Type
- MCur
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10948/43182
- Identifier
- vital:36757
- Description
- Nurses belong to a noble and caring profession, characterized by a specific and scientific body of knowledge and skills that need to be obtained from an accredited Nursing Education Institution (NEI). The World Health Organization (WHO) states that nursing encompasses autonomous and collaborative care of individuals of all ages, families, groups and communities, sick or well, and in all settings. It includes the promotion of health, the prevention of illness, and the care of ill, disabled and dying people (Muller, 2009:4). The newly-qualified professional nurse (NQPN) works within a specific scope of practice, as stipulated by the South African Nursing Council (SANC). Nurses need to have the knowledge, skills and attributes to be able to render quality nursing care to the community at large. There was, however, a concern voiced by nurse unit managers that the NQPN lacked the ability to be an independent practitioner and does not have problem-solving and analytical skills, and therefore their preparedness for practice in the clinical field was questioned. This is a concern for the profession and the colleges of nursing. Sound guidelines are therefore needed regarding the educational programme in order to ensure that NQPNs trained at a public college of nursing are ready to practice, both competently and independently, upon completion of their training. A qualitative, descriptive, explorative and contextual research study was conducted to explore and describe the perceptions of nurse unit managers regarding the preparedness for practice of NQPNs trained at a public college of nursing in the Eastern Cape. Nurse unit managers from the public hospitals and Primary Health Care (PHC) services in the Nelson Mandela Health District, in the Eastern Cape, were interviewed using focus groups in order to obtain information until data saturation was obtained. The focus group interviews were transcribed verbatim and Tesch’s (1990) in Creswell (2009:186) data analysis and coding was followed to create themes from the data collected. To protect the dignity of the participants and the integrity of the study, the researcher incorporated the following ethical principles: respect for persons, beneficence and justice. The findings were described in detail and a literature control was conducted. The main findings were: The nurse unit managers indicated that NQPNs were not prepared for clinical practice and pose a danger to patients. Education deficiencies were identified by nurse unit managers. Students do not demonstrate the expected professional behaviour, but nurse unit managers acknowledged that they also contribute towards the under-preparedness of NQPNs. Lastly, nurse unit managers acknowledged their responsibility regarding clinical education, but shifted the blame (role) to other organizations and people. Guidelines were developed for the curriculum development committee and nurse educators, and recommendations were made regarding clinical practice, education and research, and the limitations of the study were identified.
- Format
- xvii, 153 leaves
- Format
- Publisher
- Nelson Mandela University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Health Sciences
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Nelson Mandela University
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NMU School of Clinical Care Sciences
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | Shiela Piet.pdf | 1 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |