No description available.

Policies underpinning the processes used by nurse regulatory authorities to assess overseas - qualified nurses ( OQNs ) vary from country to country. Some countries ' policies are to undertake paper - based assessments of nurses ' initial and post registration education and experience, while others require all nurses to undertake a generic examination. How these policies were developed and why, were pivotal questions in this study. The aim of the study was, to critically analyse the policy development and policies relating to assessment of overseas - qualified nurses in thirteen nurse regulatory authorities from Australia and overseas. Using Critical Social Theory as the theoretical underpinning a critical policy analysis was undertaken. Data was obtained from policies and procedures, interviews, organisational websites, annual reports and Nurses Acts. The process of development of these policies and procedures was analysed using Bridgman and Davis ' policy cycle. The study revealed that only one organisation used a framework to develop policies on the assessment of OQNs. Policy analysis in most organisations was based on anecdotal evidence and experiential knowledge of Board staff. No organisation had conducted research on whether overseas - qualified nurses were competent to practice following a paper - based assessment or an examination. This study demonstrated that policies used to assess OQNs were not developed from an evidence - based perspective. This highlights the need to undertake internationally collaborative research on the evaluation of current policies, in order to develop future policies that determine the competence of a nurse to practice in another country. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--School of Population Health and Clinical Practice, 2006.

Nursing throughout the world is striving for international competitiveness and accountability for effectiveness and trust to the students, patients and the community they serve, thus making the issue of accreditation increasingly important. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of the heads of private nursing education institutions on accreditation process by nursing education and training quality assurance body at eThekwini district. Reviewed literature has revealed that the South African Government has facilitated and encouraged the establishment of quality assurance through the South African Qualifications Authority Act, the National Qualifications Framework Act (NQF) and the Nursing Act. Data were collected by means of in-depth interviews with each of the heads of the seven selected private nursing education institutions. Qualitative content analysis using an editing style was performed in this study. Findings of this study revealed that nursing education institutions lack their own internal quality assessment processes as quality of teaching and learning depends on the interaction between the teacher and the students, the collective integrity as well as the professionals in the nursing education institution. Recommendations focused on periodic internal self-assessment as a vehicle to promote the culture of institutional internal self-assessment practices, as quality is seen as logical approach for conveying the importance of excellence to individuals who are nursing care recipients. Reports from the internal review should be provided by the institution to the external evaluation team prior to the external evaluators visit. / Thesis (M.N.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.