No description available.

No description available.

Background: The nursing process is a widely accepted method and has been suggested as a scientific method to guide procedures and qualify nursing care. More recently, the process has been defined as a systematic and dynamic way to deliver nursing care. This process is performed through five interrelated steps, namely: assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation and evaluation, with subsequent modifications used as feedback mechanisms that promote the resolution of the nursing diagnoses. The Lesotho Nursing Council (LNC) adopted the nursing process over a decade ago and the LNC mandated nurse training institutions and clinical settings to utilise this methodology. However, there is a reluctance to implement the nursing process despite its importance in nursing care (LNC, 2009:7). Purpose: The primary purpose of this research was to explore and describe the perceptions and experiences of nurses in implementing the nursing process in a district public hospital in Lesotho. On the grounds of these findings, the researcher ultimately makes recommendations for nursing education, nursing practice and nursing research. Methodology: To explore and describe the perceptions and experiences of nurses implementing the nursing process in a district public hospital in Lesotho, the researcher chose a qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design. The researcher used voluntary purposive sampling to identify participants who complied with the set selection criteria. The sample comprised of professional nurses with varying years of working experience and qualifications. The data was collected by means of narratives and two focus group interviews; n=10 and n=6. The data was captured on a digital audio recorder and was transcribed verbatim. The researcher took field notes during each focus group. Both the researcher and independent co-coder analysed the narratives and transcribed data together, using narrative analysis and open coding (Creswell, 2009:185). Three main themes and nine subthemes emerged from the data collected from the narratives and focus groups. The researcher illustrated these themes through direct quotes by the participants. Each of these themes was discussed accompanied by relevant data obtained from literature, and reduced to conclusive statements, which serve as a basis for the derived recommendations to nursing education, nursing practice and nursing research. Trustworthiness was ensured in accordance with the principles of credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability. Conclusions: The researcher reached a number of conclusions. The participants perceived several factors and experienced them as interfering with the efficient implementation of the nursing process. Operational difficulties experienced in the systematisation of nursing care in practice, are amongst others a lack of knowledge of the steps involved in the process, an excessive number of tasks assigned to the nursing team, the poor quality of professional education, insufficient reports on the physical examination related to the disease and difficulty to formulate the nursing diagnosis. The research report concluded with the researcher’s evaluation of the research and recommendations for nursing practice, nursing education and nursing research with the purpose of improving the implementation of the nursing process. / MCur, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Nurses are the backbone of the health care system in South Africa and spend more time with patients than any other member of the health care team. They are required to behave in a professional manner at all times. Unfortunately, professionalism within the nursing profession appears to be deteriorating. Nursing students entering the profession are at risk of assimilating unprofessional behaviour from their colleagues and inevitably, unprofessional behaviour negatively affects service delivery and the quality of patient care. Nurse educators play a key role in facilitating professional socialisation in students to enable them to mould into the nursing profession as they integrate the fundamental norms, values and standards governing the nursing profession. Unfortunately the concept of professionalism is poorly defined and might interfere with this education and assessment of professional socialisation of nursing students. The aim of this study was to define professionalism within the nursing profession using a qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual research design to obtain an in-depth understanding of the concept of professionalism. The concept of professionalism was analysed in-depth using the concept analysis method of Walker and Avant (2011), based on Wilson‟s work (1963). A clearer meaning of professionalism was obtained when the ordinary and professional meaning of the concept was examined by using a systematic way to search the literature. Qualitative content analysis resulted in the key attributes of the concept of professionalism being identified and extracted. Thematic analysis contributed to a further reduction of the data into categories of similar attributes, followed by quantitative content analysis where the data was classified in terms of frequency to identify meanings that are most often associated with the concept. Thereafter a connotative definition was formulated. The clarification of the meaning of professionalism was obtained by using model, contrary and borderline cases. The findings reveal many definitions on professionalism with overlapping defining characteristics, however when recognised attributes of professionalism were grouped together an exact definition of professionalism was not easy to obtain. The concept of professionalism was defined in the context of the nursing profession and the aim of the study was effectively achieved. The findings of this study provide the opportunity for further research, education and recommendations for nursing practice. / MCur, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Background: The nursing process is a widely accepted method and has been suggested as a scientific method to guide procedures and qualify nursing care. More recently, the process has been defined as a systematic and dynamic way to deliver nursing care. This process is performed through five interrelated steps, namely: assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation and evaluation, with subsequent modifications used as feedback mechanisms that promote the resolution of the nursing diagnoses. The Lesotho Nursing Council (LNC) adopted the nursing process over a decade ago and the LNC mandated nurse training institutions and clinical settings to utilise this methodology. However, there is a reluctance to implement the nursing process despite its importance in nursing care (LNC, 2009:7). Purpose: The primary purpose of this research was to explore and describe the perceptions and experiences of nurses in implementing the nursing process in a district public hospital in Lesotho. On the grounds of these findings, the researcher ultimately makes recommendations for nursing education, nursing practice and nursing research. Methodology: To explore and describe the perceptions and experiences of nurses implementing the nursing process in a district public hospital in Lesotho, the researcher chose a qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design. The researcher used voluntary purposive sampling to identify participants who complied with the set selection criteria. The sample comprised of professional nurses with varying years of working experience and qualifications. The data was collected by means of narratives and two focus group interviews; n=10 and n=6. The data was captured on a digital audio recorder and was transcribed verbatim. The researcher took field notes during each focus group. Both the researcher and independent co-coder analysed the narratives and transcribed data together, using narrative analysis and open coding (Creswell, 2009:185). Three main themes and nine subthemes emerged from the data collected from the narratives and focus groups. The researcher illustrated these themes through direct quotes by the participants. Each of these themes was discussed accompanied by relevant data obtained from literature, and reduced to conclusive statements, which serve as a basis for the derived recommendations to nursing education, nursing practice and nursing research. Trustworthiness was ensured in accordance with the principles of credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability. Conclusions: The researcher reached a number of conclusions. The participants perceived several factors and experienced them as interfering with the efficient implementation of the nursing process. Operational difficulties experienced in the systematisation of nursing care in practice, are amongst others a lack of knowledge of the steps involved in the process, an excessive number of tasks assigned to the nursing team, the poor quality of professional education, insufficient reports on the physical examination related to the disease and difficulty to formulate the nursing diagnosis. The research report concluded with the researcher’s evaluation of the research and recommendations for nursing practice, nursing education and nursing research with the purpose of improving the implementation of the nursing process. / MCur, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Published Article / This paper examines the discourses on technical vocation education and training (TVET) adopting a comparative perspective. In particular, we critically analyse the notion of academic and professional pedagogy to embed curriculum and pedagogy at Universities of Technology (UoTs) in South Africa and at the Central University of Technology (CUT). This is conducted by analysing the term, vocational pedagogy within the context of Universities of Applied Sciences (UASs) and Universities of Technology (UT) in Germany, and Universities of Technology (UoTs) in South Africa, respectively. We then proceed by exploring the idea of an Institute of Pedagogy at the Central University of Technology (CUT) that will become a centre of excellence where research on professional pedagogy will be undertaken by staff and students from CUT and other institutions, as well as other bodies, including government and the employer/industry.

Published Article / Literature reveals the crucial influence of school leadership on the creation and maintenance of successful schools. In searching for new foundations to understand leadership, Raelin's leaderful practice model serves as an authentic model to describe a successful South African leadership practice. A qualitative study was used to interpret school leadership in primary schools through the lens of the leaderful practice model. The following observations emerged from the study: "It is passion that makes people succeed in life"; "It isn't my school, it's our school"; and "Development has to be an integral part of education". By sharing the leadership experiences of the principal, this study could serve as a valuable resource and promote the creation of other leaderful practices in South African schools.

Nurses are the backbone of the health care system in South Africa and spend more time with patients than any other member of the health care team. They are required to behave in a professional manner at all times. Unfortunately, professionalism within the nursing profession appears to be deteriorating. Nursing students entering the profession are at risk of assimilating unprofessional behaviour from their colleagues and inevitably, unprofessional behaviour negatively affects service delivery and the quality of patient care. Nurse educators play a key role in facilitating professional socialisation in students to enable them to mould into the nursing profession as they integrate the fundamental norms, values and standards governing the nursing profession. Unfortunately the concept of professionalism is poorly defined and might interfere with this education and assessment of professional socialisation of nursing students. The aim of this study was to define professionalism within the nursing profession using a qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual research design to obtain an in-depth understanding of the concept of professionalism. The concept of professionalism was analysed in-depth using the concept analysis method of Walker and Avant (2011), based on Wilson‟s work (1963). A clearer meaning of professionalism was obtained when the ordinary and professional meaning of the concept was examined by using a systematic way to search the literature. Qualitative content analysis resulted in the key attributes of the concept of professionalism being identified and extracted. Thematic analysis contributed to a further reduction of the data into categories of similar attributes, followed by quantitative content analysis where the data was classified in terms of frequency to identify meanings that are most often associated with the concept. Thereafter a connotative definition was formulated. The clarification of the meaning of professionalism was obtained by using model, contrary and borderline cases. The findings reveal many definitions on professionalism with overlapping defining characteristics, however when recognised attributes of professionalism were grouped together an exact definition of professionalism was not easy to obtain. The concept of professionalism was defined in the context of the nursing profession and the aim of the study was effectively achieved. The findings of this study provide the opportunity for further research, education and recommendations for nursing practice. / MCur, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

This thesis explores mental health nurses’ and midwives’ experiences of supervision. The thesis aims to create a partial and situated understanding of the numerous factors which contribute to practitioners’ experiences of supervision. In particular the thesis investigates the disciplinary context within which supervision takes place, moving from the experiences of individual practitioners to compare and contrast supervision within two distinct professional disciplines which have common areas of interest. Existing research on the topic of supervision in mental health nursing and midwifery tends to reify the concept of supervision. Supervision is assumed to be beneficial, and there is a focus on investigating the effects of supervision without an accompanying understanding of why, how, where and by whom supervision is done. In this thesis, ‘supervision’ is critically conceptualised as indicating a cluster of context-specific practices, and the investigation of supervision is located with the practitioner’s understandings and experiences. The theoretical perspective of the thesis is informed by social constructionism, and ‘experience’ is conceptualised as communicated through meaning-making narratives. The experiences of the study participants were accessed through the collection of data in the form of narratives. Sixteen participants were recruited, comprising eight mental health nurses and eight midwives. Each participant was interviewed once, using a semi-structured interview format. The analysis was influenced by the theories of Gee (1991), Bruner (1986) and Ricoeur (1983/1984), and employed a narrative approach in which the unique meaning-making qualities of narrative were used to interpret the data. The analysis paid close attention to the process of fragmentation and configuration of the data, and produced four composite stories which presented the findings in a holistic and contextualised form. Two themes were identified from the findings: Supervision and Emotions, and Supervision and The Profession, and these were discussed in the light of the two professional contexts explored, and with reference to supervision as an exercise of power. The theme of Emotions recognises the integral role played by emotions in both clinical practice and supervision, and conceptualises supervision and the organisational context as emotional ecologies. Supervision can be constructed as a special emotional ecology with its own feeling rules, and this can both benefit and harm the practitioner. The theme of The Profession responds to the importance of the professional context of supervision practices, and the role of discourses about professional identity and status in determining how supervision is done and with what aim. Comparing supervision practices within two different disciplinary contexts enabled this thesis to challenge tropes about supervision. Supervision cannot be assumed to be either ‘good’ or ‘punitive’, and practices are constructed in the light of particular aims and expectations. This thesis also makes the methodological argument that research into supervision must be politicised and theorised and accommodate contextualised complexity. To simplify or decontextualise the exploration of supervision is to lose the details of practice which make supervision what it is. Supervision is a complex process, enmeshed in its context, and may be constructed to serve different purposes.

No description available.