Thesis (M.Cur.) -- University of Limpopo, 2018 / Graduate throughput of student nurses is one of the priorities of the National Department of Health in Republic of South Africa. New nurse graduates are expected to curb the obvious shortage of nurses in the nursing profession.The purpose of the study was to design the strategies to enhance graduate throughput of student nurses. The study design was quantitative, cross-sectional descriptive, research design. The study population included all student nurses who have repeated a level of study. Probability cluster random sampling was employed to select the respondents based on the examination results for both levels. Data were collected through a self-developed questionnaire. Questionnaires were distributed to 239 respondents (167 student nurses and 72 nurse-educators were completed and returned and questionnaires were analysed) Ethical clearance was obtained from Turfloop Research Ethics Committee, Limpopo Province Department of Health Ethics Committee and Limpopo College Campuses management. The researcher ensured that measures of reliability and validity are adhered to and ethical principle for conducting research that involves human-beings was considered. Data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23 for Windows. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse, describe and summarize data in which the findings were presented in the form of distribution tables, graphs and inferential statistics. The study revealed that poor academic performance and achievement of student nurses was caused by work overload, academic stress, anxiety, low morale, lack of dedication, prioritizing social activities and ill health.Strategies to overcome the causes of poor academic performance and achievement of student nurses were developed. The strategies are-; selection criteria, adequate resources and equipment, conducive-learning environment, student nurses counselling, student nurses discipline, academic curriculum, strategies and programs, innovative teaching strategies, expertise placement, in-service trainings, mutual student-nurse, nurse-educator relationship, adequate resources and equipment as well as awards and incentives.

This is a qualitative study, the aim of which is to explore the experiences of student nurses regarding the bursary system in KwaZulu Natal. During 2010 nursing education was confronted with restructuring of student nurses from having a supernumerary status to being bursary holders (DOH, 2010:68). This study describes the experiences of changes that have emanated from introduction of the new bursary system. The experiences of students in this new system were explored. These include the legacy of institutional factors and benefits that have now been removed from the students which could hamper students‟ sense of belonging. The research was conducted in an attempt to make a significant contribution to the bursary subsidisers specifically in awareness of what student experiences have been in relation to introduction of the bursary system in KwaZulu Natal (KZN); and also to provide recommendations on how the bursary requirements could possibly be improved to enhance the student academic, clinical and socio-economic needs. A qualitative study design was used and data was collected using focus group interviews. Purposive sampling was used to select participants who represent the target population. The sample used for the study included first-, second- and third- year male and female nursing students who are studying towards the Diploma in Nursing (General, Psychiatric, Community) and Midwifery. A total of seven focus group interviews were conducted until data saturation was achieved. To ensure trustworthiness the principles of credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability were maintained. A digital voice recorder was utilised to capture all data and data was transcribed verbatim. Data was analysed by the researcher and an independent co-coder. Two (2) main themes and eight (8) sub-themes were identified. The findings indicated that most of the experiences of being in the bursary system as opposed to having supernumerary status has had many effects and has negatively impacted on students‟, socio-economic, psychological, clinical, academic and family demands. A very small amount of students responded positively. Many concerns related to staffing attitudes, shortages and staff demands on the students during clinical practice were highlighted. Conclusions drawn from the study are that the bursary system is not viewed as being of benefit to students as students feel they are not receiving the full complement of benefits from being bursary holders. Furthermore, there is no consideration made to them for support in clinical and academic areas considering the employee hours they have to work. The recommendations indicate that there is a great need to have the bursary system reviewed. The study is concluded with the final recommendations for policy-making, nursing practice, nursing research and nursing education. From this it is hoped that the students‟ needs are identified, resulting in enhancement of their training. / MCur, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

This is a qualitative study, the aim of which is to explore the experiences of student nurses regarding the bursary system in KwaZulu Natal. During 2010 nursing education was confronted with restructuring of student nurses from having a supernumerary status to being bursary holders (DOH, 2010:68). This study describes the experiences of changes that have emanated from introduction of the new bursary system. The experiences of students in this new system were explored. These include the legacy of institutional factors and benefits that have now been removed from the students which could hamper students‟ sense of belonging. The research was conducted in an attempt to make a significant contribution to the bursary subsidisers specifically in awareness of what student experiences have been in relation to introduction of the bursary system in KwaZulu Natal (KZN); and also to provide recommendations on how the bursary requirements could possibly be improved to enhance the student academic, clinical and socio-economic needs. A qualitative study design was used and data was collected using focus group interviews. Purposive sampling was used to select participants who represent the target population. The sample used for the study included first-, second- and third- year male and female nursing students who are studying towards the Diploma in Nursing (General, Psychiatric, Community) and Midwifery. A total of seven focus group interviews were conducted until data saturation was achieved. To ensure trustworthiness the principles of credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability were maintained. A digital voice recorder was utilised to capture all data and data was transcribed verbatim. Data was analysed by the researcher and an independent co-coder. Two (2) main themes and eight (8) sub-themes were identified. The findings indicated that most of the experiences of being in the bursary system as opposed to having supernumerary status has had many effects and has negatively impacted on students‟, socio-economic, psychological, clinical, academic and family demands. A very small amount of students responded positively. Many concerns related to staffing attitudes, shortages and staff demands on the students during clinical practice were highlighted. Conclusions drawn from the study are that the bursary system is not viewed as being of benefit to students as students feel they are not receiving the full complement of benefits from being bursary holders. Furthermore, there is no consideration made to them for support in clinical and academic areas considering the employee hours they have to work. The recommendations indicate that there is a great need to have the bursary system reviewed. The study is concluded with the final recommendations for policy-making, nursing practice, nursing research and nursing education. From this it is hoped that the students‟ needs are identified, resulting in enhancement of their training. / MCur, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The explosion of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) use over the last 10 years within healthcare, and particularly within nursing practice, is changing the ways in which patient care is delivered. However a concern highlighted by various policy review and research evidence is that barriers to ICT usage are experienced by some groups of student nurses, particularly those who are mature and female, in a way that constrains potential impact on their professional development. This research adds to and develops the research evidence in the field by examining in what ways, and the extent to which, a group of mature, female, nursing students utilise ICT within the boundaries of one pre-registration nursing programme based on partnership working between a School of Health situated within a large university and its related NHS Trusts. By way of a qualitative, case study approach this study examines the biographical, university and clinical placement use of ICT for this group of student nurses. Consideration is given to the interconnectedness of these experiences as these students begin to develop their professional identities and learning as nurses. The experiences of this group of students are determined through interviews and observation of clinical practice. Three research questions define the parameters of the research. These are: 1) How are mature, female nursing students accessing and using ICT within nursing education? 2) What are the barriers that may prevent mature, female students from accessing and using ICT within nursing education? 3) What actions do mature, female nursing students consider may be taken to improve their knowledge and subsequent use of ICT in both their academic studies and clinical placement work? Findings from the research suggest that experiences of ICT relate to biographical history and the extent to which student nurses are supported and encouraged to engage with ICT in their university programme and on clinical placement. In particular the data suggests that for many student nurses the feeling and experiences of being generationally, emotionally and hierarchically 'locked out' of using ICT raises real challenges for the extent to which government and regulatory policy is being effectively enacted for particular groups of student nurses. This study, therefore, contributes to knowledge in and around pedagogical practice for pre-registration nurse education programmes. In particular it raises the importance of locating policy development in this area around the explicit privileging and enabling of ICT usage in all practice situations. In other words the development of a collective efficacy in nurse pre-registration programmes that is suggestive of notions of being ICT 'logged in' rather than being 'locked out' for mature, female student nurses.

Magister Curationis - MCur / Teacher identity is regarded as an important disposition when it comes to training would-be teachers, irrespective of the field of study. It is during the teaching practice experience that student nurse-educators transit from their preconceived identity as a student to accepting the teacher identity. It is expected that for student to acquire this identify they require profound knowledge in subject content, pedagogy and didactic knowledge, so as to perform their professions effectively. Although the focus of teaching is the student teachers, attention is sometimes focused more on the nursing facilitators rather than on the nursing student teachers who are becoming teachers. However, good nursing training should also take into consideration the perceptions of nurse student teachers on the teacher identity. This study sought to describe student nurse-educators’ perception of teacher identity with respect to the subject matter, pedagogy, and didactic expertise at a School of Nursing, University of the Western Cape. The quantitative research approach, using the descriptive design was employed to guide the study. Data was collected by means of a self-administered questionnaire using a five point Likert scale. A list of students in master’s education programme was utilised as the sampling frame. The sample included the Masters students in nursing education programme who have completed their theoretical courses and teaching practice. The Statistical Package for Social Science software (SPSS) version 22 was used in the analysis of the survey. The study showed that teacher identity of student nurse-educators is strongly related to their perceived level of knowledge of expertise in subject matter (34%) followed by a grasp in didactics (33.28%). Teacher identity was less perceived in mastering knowledge related to pedagogy (33.12%). While the average median were 3.50 for subject matter, 3.54 in didactics and 3.50 for pedagogy. The relation between knowledge of expertise in subject matter, pedagogy and didactics were established after performing Kendall tau-c test. The link between gender and subject matter, pedagogy and didactics revealed no significant association. No significant difference was found between males and females respondents perceptions with regards to subject matter and didactics; while significant difference was found with didactics. The findings make a contribution to the body of knowledge in the nursing education field, and could contribute to improve the competency and quality in the practice of nursing education. With regards to the speculation on identity formation and development issues, it is hoped these findings will provide greater understanding of the difficulties student nurse-educators experience as they construct individual identities as teacher.

Magister Curationis - MCur / An increasing number of males is entering the nursing profession. The researcher in his position as a clinical supervisor at the School of Nursing at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), through informal ward rounds with student nurses in the wards, has received concerns raised by male student nurses regarding their dissatisfaction with their clinical learning. Given the paucity of literature about the experiences of males working in a profession dominated by females, the researcher embarked on this study to understand how male student nurses experienced the clinical learning environment. The aim of the study was to explore and describe the lived clinical learning experience of male student nurses during their experiential learning in the clinical setting. A descriptive phenomenological design was used. Purposive sampling was used to select participants from the second, third and fourth year of their study. Three focus group discussions, consisting of six participants per group were used to collect data. One open-ended question guided the interviews. Focus group discussions were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data analysis was conducted by means of Colaizzi`s (1978) seven steps method of qualitative analysis. Three major themes identified focused on the experiences regarding the constraints in the learning environment, the impact on the self and social support of students working in a female dominated profession. The participants in this study were male students only, but after looking at the findings and literature, the problem of not being given opportunities to practise clinical skills in a clinical learning environment, particularly according to their level of study, is a problem that faces both male and female students. The findings indicate that male nurses do have different experiences compared to female nurses because of their masculinity, hence they are limited in the care that they can provide to female patients.

Student Number : 0317159E - MSc(Nursing) research report - School of Therapeutics - Faculty of Health Sciences / The learning environment and supervision in clinical placement play an important role in nursing education. The purpose of this study was to describe the opinions of student nurses with regard to the clinical learning environment and supervision at Malamulo Hospital, Malawi. A quantitative descriptive design was used. Data were collected from nursing students at Malamulo College of Health Science using the Clinical Learning Environment Scale (CLES) comprising structured questions. The questionnaire was administered to the total population of students (N=84) and the response rate was 87% (n=73). Descriptive statistics were used to analyze data. Relationships between variables were determined by using Fisher’s exact test and the t-test. The findings revealed that the majority of the participants were satisfied with their clinical learning environment and supervision in their latest clinical placement. Particularly, they were satisfied with the relationship that prevailed between students and members of nursing staff, feedback they received from their supervisors, the nursing care given to patients and the quality of learning opportunities. However, it was determined that nurse teachers did not regularly supervise students and also that some students were not clear about the nursing philosophy of their wards. Ward familiarization processes were not well planned as indicated by about a third of the participants. More than one third also indicated that the learning situations were not sufficient and not meaningful. While 73.98 % indicated that they received constructive feedback from their supervisors, about half of the participants indicated that the feedback was not given continuously.The majority (67.76%) of the participants experienced team supervision as opposed to individual supervision. Therefore it is recommended that nurse teachers increase the number of visits to the wards when students are in clinical placement to improve quality of clinical learning. The nursing college may need to have specific clinical instructors who are trained in clinical supervision and who will be available for students in the clinical placements regularly. The ward managers and the nursing staff need to clarify and display their ward nursing philosophy so that both nurses and students can have a common understanding and common goal in the provision of nursing care. It is also recommended that feedback be given to students continuously to enhance learning.

No description available.

Background: Clinical reasoning is the ability to reason as a clinical situation changes and is an essential component of competence in nursing practice. However, some traditional teaching and learning strategies do not always facilitate the development of the desired clinical reasoning skills in nursing students. Problem statement: Nurse educators at a military nursing college in Gauteng are predominantly utilising traditional teacher-centred teaching and learning strategies. The concern is that if students are predominantly taught by means of traditional teacher-centred strategies this may not contribute to the development of the desired clinical reasoning skills required for nursing practice. To improve educational practices to promote the development of student nurses' clinical reasoning skills, the researcher conducted an action research study. Aim: The aim of the study was to facilitate a process of change towards improving educational practices in order to promote the development of undergraduate student nurses' clinical reasoning skills. Methodology: Action research was used to conduct the research study by means of three phases. During Phase 1: the Baseline phase, data was collected by means of unstructured interviews with nurse educators and head of departments to explore and describe the challenges experienced by nurse educators in utilising alternative educational practices. During Phase 2: the Action Research Process phase, an action research group was established to co-construct an action plan to address the identified challenges. Four action research cycles each comprising four steps, namely plan, act, observe and reflect was implemented. Phase 3, the Evaluation of the Action Research Process phase, evaluated the outcomes of the action research process by means of the World Café data collection method. Qualitative data from Phase 2 was analysed using the steps outlined in Saldaña (2013). The activities conducted during the action research group workshops were recorded and minutes were kept. Data from the World Café was analysed using the creative hermeneutic data analysis method as suggested by Boomer and McCormack (2010). Findings: The challenges encountered by nurse educators were explored and the following four main themes emerged: educational practices; clinical learning environment; military learning environment; and role players in the teaching and learning environment. The challenges were prioritised by the action research group into four strategies: teaching, learning and assessment strategies; the clinical learning environment; continuous professional development; and support and selection of students and nurse educators. An action plan was co-constructed during Phase 2 by the action research group participants. The project was evaluated by the action research group as successful. The action research process contributed to the professional development of the nurse educators and resulted in the utilisation of more student-centred teaching, learning and assessment strategies. Conclusions: An action plan was developed to improve educational practices at the South African Military Health Service Nursing College. The researcher also developed a conceptual framework to promote clinical reasoning skills. Addressing nurse educator challenges in collaboration and empowering them with the means, opportunity and skill to utilise studentcentred teaching and learning strategies may contribute to the development of undergraduate student nurses' clinical reasoning skills. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Nursing Science / PhD / Unrestricted

Magister Curationis - MCur / Background: The changes in sexual and reproductive behaviour of young people as they become students, has been widely documented. International and local studies promote the development of student-centred, comprehensive and accessible reproductive health services. In order to establish effective reproductive health care within education institutions, it is strongly recommended that one should understand the local context well. Aim: This study aimed to describe the reproductive health knowledge, attitudes and practices of student nurses at a select private nursing college in South Africa.