Nephrology nursing requires a specific set of clinical skills and knowledge. When a professional nurse with no previous dialysis experience enters the field of nephrology nursing he or she has no nephrology related paradigms from past experiences to use as a point of reference. As a result of the rapid growth of the private dialysis company experienced over the past 10 years, many management and support service positions became available. Internal promotions resulted in the movement of experienced professional nurses from the clinical field into management and support services positions, resulting in a sudden loss of skilled individuals from the clinical field. To mitigate this effect, a training intervention was started. The newly appointed managers were all required to work in the clinical field for sixteen hours per month to expose the less experienced professional nurses to the more experienced professional nurses in order to assist them with skill acquisition thus enabling the advanced beginner and competent nurse to become a proficient nurse and/or an expert in the field of nephrology nursing. Experiential learning is not a spontaneous process but depends on many factors that could either hinder or facilitate skill acquisition. This study aimed to explore and describe the aspects that facilitate or hinder skill acquisition during the training intervention that was implemented in private chronic haemodialysis units and to write guidelines to optimize skill acquisition during the training intervention. The study followed a quantitative, descriptive, exploratory, contextual, survey design. Data was collected using a tool based on the theory of nursing accompaniment by Kotze, Kolbs theory on experiential nursing, a framework of strategies that facilitate skill acquisition by King and a generalized tool, the Learning Transfer Skills Inventory (LTSI) that was developed by Holton and Bates to measure learning transfer and factors that contribute and hinder training interventions. Data was analysed with the support of a statistician. The findings were reported and discussed in relation to the current literature. Measures were put in place to ensure validity and reliability, and ethical principles were adhered to throughout the study. Guidelines to optimize skill acquisition were developed. The limitations of the study were the sample size and the response rate. There was a paucity in existing research regarding skill acquisition in Nephrology nursing and limited statistical variance amongst the aspects that facilitate or hinder skill acquisition. It is recommended that the guidelines be implemented to measure the impact they have in the organization.

published_or_final_version / Nursing Studies / Master / Master of Nursing