M.Cur. / One of the most important qualities of the primary health care nurse is to possess the necessary psychomotor , cognitive, affective and specific managerial skills to enable her to perform her diagnostic, therapeutic and interpersonal activities. These skills enable the primary health care nurse to provide quality care through physical examination, prescribing and storing drugs and keeping the necessary written records and statistics. The White Paper on Transformation of Health Care Services recommends that . the Department of Health trains primary health care personnel according to the appropriate level of care. Primary health care nurses fall under the categories of health care providers that are regarded by the department of health as a training pnonty. This training also needs to be coordinated and, if necessary, rationalised. Particular emphasis should be placed on training personnel for rendering effective primary health care. If the curriculum for the training of primary health care nurses is to be reviewed successfully, it should reflect community needs more accurately and the teaching should place more emphasis on community-and outcome-based programmes. This research was undertaken to explore and describe the perceptions held about health assessment, treatment and care programmes by primary health care nurses ·to assist those involved in the provision of health care to render quality care. The aim of this study was to explore and describe whether primary health care nurses are equipped with the skills they require in health assessment, treatment and care. The researcher used an exploratory, descriptive and contextual, design to do this. The data was obtained through focus group interviews with community nurses in the first phase, and with patients in the second phase of data collection respectively. In the. third phase, guidelines were compiled from the data obtained in phases one and two to outline how primary health care nurses should function in health assessment, treatment and care of their patients. The results of this research show that the community nurses and patients perceive primary health care nurses to be skilful in psychomotor, cognitive and attitude aspects.

The researcher observed that some nursing students lacked the necessary knowledge and confidence in the clinical practice areas whilst accompanying students. The researcher was therefore of the opinion that the aforementioned gaps needed to be addressed to ensure that students developed more confidence in their clinical decision making skills. The researcher was of the opinion that the nurse educators would be the ideal persons to identify the information required by undergraduate nursing students at the point of care for clinical decision-making, because they are the primary teachers of nursing students and are the experts with regard to the content needed for clinical decision making at the point of care in the clinical areas. The aim of the study was therefore to explore and describe the perceptions of nurse educators regarding the information required by the undergraduate nursing students for clinical decision making at the point of care. A qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual research design was used to conduct this research. The study was conducted among the nurse educators who are employed by Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, lecturing and accompanying students for at least 12 months. In-depth interviewing was conducted to obtain the data. The data analysis was done using Tesch’s method to make sense out of the text and data. Strategies to ensure trustworthiness and a high ethical standard were implemented throughout the study. Three themes with eight sub-themes emerged, namely, the importance of students having sound basic knowledge of theory and practical skills before entering the practical field, students to have available, accessible and up to date information at the point of care and importance of mentorship when students are seeking information. Recommendations were made pertaining to areas of nursing practice, education and research.

The problem with which this study is concerned is the identification of selected factors, prior to a student's admission into the nursing sequence, that may be related to the student's success in completing a baccalaureate nursing education. The purposes of the study were (1) to determine if there is a relationship between the reading ability of baccalaureate nursing students and their grades in their initial nursing course, (2) to determine if there are statistically significant differences in reading abilities among traditional groups and identified nontraditional nursing student subgroups (men, older students, blacks Hispanics, and others) of the population, and (3) to determine if prior educational experience (junior college, senior college, or a previous baccalaureate degree) is related to students' grades in the initial clinical course.

D.Cur. / Nurse educators have a multifaceted and ambiguous professional as well as personal role. They teach nursing theory, accompany student nurses in the clinical area and are expected to carry out research. Very few — in the nursing colleges — are actually involved in scientific study and relate this to unavailability of resources like sponsorship and time, to support such efforts. Added to this is their personal role as spouse or partner, as parent, as significant other and as friend. Faced with the challenges of the change from curative to the primary health care approach to health services delivery, and according to provincial legislation, the restructuring and rationalisation of health services, induding rationalisation of nursing colleges, the nurse educator is negatively affected by these changes and gets stressed. As a result of the complex and changing social, economic and political dimate, these challenges pose a threat to the nurse educator, who perceived herself as being unable to cope. Change occurs continuously in nursing, and therefore in nursing education, because of the dynamic health care system. Change, for better or for worse, can be stressful. It puts big demands on a person's ability to cope. The nurse educator in this changed climate, being unable to cope, gets stressed, and if any stressful situation is allowed to progress to distress, the health — mental, physical and spiritual — of the nurse educator might be adversely affected. Supporting the nurse educator to cope with this change may help her to accept the dynamic changes taking place around her. Learning to cope will not only give nurse educators control over their lives and well-being, but would leave them free to concentrate on helping themselves and others and teaching student nurses. The purpose of this research was to generate and describe a support approach and to describe guidelines to operationalise the support approach, for the psychiatric nursing clinical specialist to utilise for the nurse educator who is working in a nursing college that is earmarked for rationalisation, in order to promote, maintain and restore mental health as an integral part of health. Based on the above discussion, the following questions were addressed in this research: How do nurse educators experience life in all its dimensions? What support do they think they should receive? What approach can be described to support the nurse educator? What guidelines can be described to operationalise the support approach? A qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual research design was followed. The research was conducted in four phases with a pilot study preceding the first phase of the research. In phase one, phenomenological interviews were conducted with seven nurse educators to explore their experience of life in all its dimensions. Data was analysed according to Tesch's method. Based on the results of analysed data, fear and uncertainty, anger and hope/hopefulness were the identified themes. In phase two, focus group discussions were held with the same group of nurse educators to explore their views on what could be done to support them. Selfmanagement, justice and fairness and enrichment were the identified themes. In phase three themes from phase one and phase two were utilised to form a bridge, leading to the description of an approach to support nurse educators. Phase four dealt with the description of guidelines to operationalise the support approach. Recommendations and limitations of the research were also discussed.

M.Cur. (Professional Nursing) / The purpose of this study is to describe the guidelines for creating a cultural sensitive learning context. In present- day South Africa the learning accompanist is faced with the challenge to create a didactic situation which accommodates the cultural diversity of students. In the dynamic interactive relationship between the learning accompanist and the student, the student has the right to be treated with respect and human dignity. This right can only be respected if the learning accompaniment takes place from a cultural- sensitive perspective. The paradigmatic perspective that guides this research is described by means of metatheoretlcal, theoretical and methodological assumptions. The Nursing Theory for the Whole Person was used as meta- theoretical assumption. the theoretical assumptions were set from the Nursing Theory for the Whole Person. the U Model vir begeleide selfstudie .. (Klopper 1994) and Chrisman's (1991) .. Cultural Sensitive Nursing Care u. The methodological assumptions of the study are based on Botes" research model (1992) implying a functional approach to practice of science. The experience of the learning accompanists and students in a multicultural learning context was explored and supported by literature. From this data statements were generated indiVidually for phase I and phase II of the research. Eight statements were generated from each phase. In chapter four the conceptual framework is described from concepts of phases I and II and relevant national and international literature. With the description of the conceptual framework main concepts and related concepts were determined analytically. A total of nineteen statements were generated from the main and related concepts. A total of thirty five statements were generated from phases I and II and the conceptual framework. The guidelines for creating a cultural- sensitive didactic situation were inferred by means of deductive and inductive reasoning from these statements. The guidelines focus on the actions a learning accompanist should carry out within a multicultural didactic situation in order to carry create a cultural- sensitive didactic situation. The unique contribution of this research arises from the description of a multicultural didactic situation of nursing within the constructivist learning perspective.

M.Cur. / The cardiothoracic intensive care unit is a dynamic environment which is characterised by a high patient turnover, staff shortages, medication, doctor's and nursing protocols and specialised nursing skills are required of the registered nurse. The registered nurse working in this environment is an independent practitioner and is accountable for her acts and omissions. The registered nurse can only accept accountability if she/he has the ability (knowledge, skills and values), the responsibility and authority to carry out the actions (Bergman, 1982:8). The learner enters the cardiothoracic intensive care unit as part of the clinical teaching she receives at a specific university. Due to staff shortages, the learner is often given the responsibility and authority to carry out actions for which she is accountable, without having the ability (knowledge, skills and values) to act. She may, therefore, not be able to nurse the patient safely and effectively. The unit manager is responsible for creating a learning climate in the unit and utilises an orientation programme to create this climate. An orientation programme introduces new staff members to the philosophy, goals and procedures necessary to work in a particular setting (Brookfield, 1986:64). The adult learner wants to learn that which is task- and problem-orientated in a selfdirective, independent way ida climate that is conducive to learning. The question arises: What must the content of an orientation programme for a certain cardiothoracic intensive care unit of a specific private hospital be and how must it be managed to facilitate safe and effective nursing by learners working in the cardiothoracic intensive care unit? The objective of the study is to explore and describe the content and management of an orientation programme for a specific cardiothoracic intensive care unit in a specific private hospital. A qualitative, exploratory and descriptive contextual study was conducted to explore and describe the content and management of the orientation programme. A contextual framework is described and focus group interviews were conducted with learners and registered nurses. From the results of the conceptual framework and focus group interviews, the content and manageent of the orientation programme was described. Due to the function perspective of the study, an orientatio nprogramme was developed from the results of the study.

M.Cur. / The purpose of nursing, as a human clinical health science, is to give a comprehensive, purposeful service to mankind in totality. This service must be supported by sound theoretical background. In ~he nurse's training, theoretical knowledge must be integrated with the practical situation to encourage the development of the student as a professional person, to an experienced practitioner. For the purpose of this study, a descriptive contextual research was done to determine to what extent the present block system training program facilitates the integration of theory and practice to the first year student. Through relevant literature search and by using the Nursing for the Whole Person theory, the model for accompaniment and the curriculum development model, a conceptual framework was compiled.

M.Cur. (Advanced Midwifery and Neonatal Nursing) / With the introduction of the four year comprehensive course, the students at a particular college of nursing receive instruction on normal labour at the beginning of their second year. They are then allocated to the maternity wards of a particular hospital for their midwifery nursing science practica. The practical placement of these students to the midwifery clinical area is variable as a few may be allocated to the practice immediately after having received their theoretical instruction, a few two months later and the rest four, six, eight and ten months later. A major problem thus facing midwifery educators at a particular college of nursing, is to select an appropriate method of teaching that would assist the student nurses in acquiring the psychomotor skills that are necessary for the management of the delivery procedure. The goal of this study was to evaluate the competency levels of the second year student nurses, in the application of the psychomotor skills that are necessary for the management of the delivery procedure, after having made use of different teaching strategies, namely: * the traditional teaching method, and * the aforementioned method combined with the simulation teaching method. The hypothesis stated that there would be no difference in the application of the necessary psychomotor skills for the first delivery procedure, between the control and the experimental groups.

D.Cur. / The midwife is the pivot around whom training activities in midwifery revolve. Her knowledge and skill form an inseparable part of the effectiveness of her practice. The external and internal environment of the midwife play a vital role regarding the demands placed upon her. The internal and external environment of the midwife is dynamic, and change continually. The external environment in the past ten years has undergone marked changes: health policy has changed; legal-ethical changes have occurred; the roles of the private sector and fee-for-service practitioners have changed; a new government with other objectives has placed the emphasis on new needs at professional and lay levels. These changes place new demands on the midwife's practice. Because the internal and external environments are in interaction, changes in the internal environment are continually being made, for example the knowledge and competency required by the midwife must continuously be improved so that she can comply with the new demands in her practice. The training of the midwife ought to be such that she is adequately equipped to fulfil the demands set by practice. The goal of this study is: an exploration and description of the knowledge and skill required by the midwife to be able to accept her responsibility in the new health care service of South Africa and set guidelines for the basic training of midwife who is to function independently.

Since the inception of the student supernumerary status, both globally and in South Africa, nursing and midwifery educators have been concerned about the clinical competencies of their students. Student clinical competency levels in South Africa are critical to midwifery practice, especially as most litigation against the Department of Health in South Africa concerns negligence in midwifery practice. In addition, the litigations mostly involve newly qualified midwives, thus suggesting a link with practice competency levels. Several challenges exist in the academic and practice environments regarding student learning, practice and clinical preparedness. Lack of support during clinical placement and a lack of facilities for use during clinical practice modules are among these challenges. Some students, due to the challenges they face with clinical learning and practice, fail to meet the practical competencies for examination entry requirements. Consequently, some of these students have to repeat the year or exit the programme. The current study sought to identify how to assist midwifery educators in their activities to prepare students for clinical placement readiness. The first objective of the study was to explore and describe the perceptions of midwifery educators regarding the need for additional measures to enhance the clinical preparedness of basic midwifery students before they are allocated to the clinical areas. The second objective sought to make recommendations that would further assist the midwifery educators to clinically prepare midwifery students before being allocated and placed in different clinical areas. A qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual research design was used for the study and the study was conducted at a nursing college in the Eastern Cape Province from August 2014 to January 2016. The research population consisted of midwifery educators at a nursing college and a purposive sampling technique was used guided by set criteria. Data were collected using focus group interviews. Four focus groups were used making a total of 17 participants. The principles applied for data analysis were those of Tesch’s method of data analysis, which were used to develop the themes and sub-themes. An independent coder assisted with the coding of the data for the purposes of trustworthiness. In addition, Lincoln and Guba’s model of trustworthiness consisting of the criteria of credibility, transferability, dependability and conformability was used to confirm the validity of the study while the ethical principles adopted were informed consent, justice, non-maleficence, privacy and confidentiality. The study found that the participants perceived numerous challenges that hindered the clinical preparedness of their students. These related to increased workload, lack of support from management and a lack of commitment on the part of students towards their studies. The participants also identified inconsistencies in clinical practice between the clinical midwives and the educators, and even among the educators themselves. This lack of consistency in turn causes confusion among the students and thus impacts negatively on their clinical practice preparedness. Based on these findings recommendations for clinical nursing practice, nursing education and research were made.