M.Cur. / Currently an increasing awareness of human rights exists in South Africa, which can be ascribed to fundamental human rights being spelt out in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1993 (Act number 200 of 1993). Events such as strikes by nurses presently focus the attention on human rights in health care. Incompatibility between the rights of the nurse and those of the patient leads to conflict. However, rights should not be perceived in isolation and, of necessity, they entail explicit or implied responsibilities ...

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M.Cur. / It is quite explicit that transformation in nursing education on clinical accompaniment of the critical care nursing students in the private hospital critical care units is inevitable. It is needed to accommodate the demands made that nurses should make rapid decisions in the crisis situations, taking responsibility that were previously of those of the physicians resulting in the increased complexity of decision-making. The decision-making skills demands that the nurses should develop the ability for the analytical, critical evaluation, critical thinking and ability of independent judgement of the scientific data as stated by the South African Nursing Council Regulation 2118 (1983:2). It also demands that the registered nurses working in the critical care units be suitably trained by completion of the Intensive Care Nursing Science course as specified by the South African Nursing Council Regulation 85 as amended (Nursing Act of 1978). The critical care nurses are required to integrate both the knowledge of the highly sophisticated technological equipment and also the understanding of the complex patient's problems. It is also explicit that, there is a need to develop the guidelines on clinical accompaniment of the critical care nursing students in the private hospital critical care units as no written guidelines are available. The overall objective of the study is to describe the guidelines on clinical accompaniment of the critical care nursing students in the private hospital critical care units. The guidelines will be utilised as a point of departure for the facilitation of attainment of quality/excellency in nursing education, skills or competency of the critical care nursing students in the private hospital critical care units.