Professional growth and development in nursing is essential for public welfare and safety. The public expects competent and safe nursing care. Student nurses spend a large number of hours in the clinical practice as part of their professional and clinical development. A clinical environment that is supportive to the improvement of student teaching and learning is imperative to the development of competency of student nurses. One strategy that has been identified to facilitate professional growth and development in student nurses is mentoring in the clinical practice. This is where student nurses are socialized into the nursing profession by experienced professional nurses. Mentoring is regarded as the deliberate pairing of student nurses with an experienced and knowledgeable person. The primary purpose of this research was to explore and describe the experiences of student nurses regarding mentoring in the clinical practice at the Eastern Campus of the Free State School of Nursing (ECFSSON). The secondary purpose was to recommend to the nursing college and clinical service areas to jointly formulate guidelines for mentoring student nurses in the clinical practice. A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design was chosen in order to describe the experiences of mentoring of student nurses in the clinical practice. Purposive sampling was utilized to identify participants who complied with the set selection criteria. The sample comprised student nurses who were in their final year of the four year programme. Data collection took place by means of four focus group interviews with a total of twenty four student nurses (7:6:6:5), which was followed by a confirmatory focus group interview with ten participants. Trustworthiness was ensured in accordance with the principles of credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability. Data was captured on an audiotape and transcribed verbatim. Field notes were taken during each focus group. Content analysis of the data was analyzed by the researcher and an independent co–coder. After consensus and data saturation, four major themes and twenty–one sub–themes were identified. The first theme described the student nurses' experiences of being mentored in the clinical practice and has five sub–themes. The second theme described the student nurses' experiences regarding mentoring by personnel and has eight sub–themes. The third theme described the student nurses' experiences regarding mentoring in different disciplines. The fourth theme described the student nurses' experiences regarding mentoring in different institutions. Each of these themes was discussed together with relevant data obtained from literature and reduced to a conclusive statement which serves as a basis for recommendation to formulate guidelines for mentoring student nurses in the clinical practice. Several conclusions were reached. Student nurses have positive as well as negative experiences about their mentoring in clinical practice. The personnel in clinical practice have different roles in the mentoring of students and the responsibility of mentoring is not clear. The mentoring of lecturers from the educational institution was also experienced as not enough. The research report concluded with the researcher's evaluation of the research and recommendations for nursing service, nursing education and nursing research to improve mentoring of student nurses in clinical practice. / Thesis (M.Cur. (Nursing Education))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Thesis (DPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Nursing Science / unrestricted

In South Africa professional nurses undergo training which gives them different levels of skills. It is difficult for professional nurses to render comprehensive primary health care services without specific knowledge and skills. Some lack skills in preventative and promotive health care delivery; others are not trained to take care of a pregnant woman or a baby after delivery, or of a mental health patient; while yet others are only curatively oriented. It is possible that they do not recognise their own limitations and are not aware of the skills needed to render comprehensive primary health care services. Their perceptions could influence their practice and severely affect the quality of health services. The aim of this research was to explore and describe the perceptions that professional nurses working in primary health care clinics have of the skills required to render quality comprehensive primary health care services, and the perceptions they have of their own level of skills to render quality comprehensive primary health care services, as well as to formulate guidelines for the facilitation of trained professional nurses to truly render quality comprehensive primary health care services. A qualitative design was followed. Permission was obtained from the Potchefstroom District Health Manager to conduct this research. Purposive voluntary sampling was used to identify the three samples who complied with the set selection criteria. Data collection was done by means of semi-structured interviews. Experts in qualitative research evaluated the semi-structured interview schedule. A trial run was done and the interview schedule was then finalised to conduct the interviews. The interviews were recorded on audiotape and then transcribed. The interviewer made field notes to serve as an analytical basis for the collected data. Data was collected until data saturation was achieved. Data analysis was done by means of open coding. A co-coder was appointed and two consensus meetings took place. The findings indicated that professional nurses perceive the skills required to render quality comprehensive primary health care services as the ability to assess, diagnose and manage patients, as well as specific skills acquired during the various nurse training programmes. The more comprehensively trained, the more competent they feel. The less comprehensively trained, the more negative they experience their work. They view their own level of skills as ranging from adequate to lacking and inadequate, depending on their training. They feel that it is impo~ant to develop skills ranging from computer skills to the full range of skills. The conclusions drawn are that the professional nurses with different training and levels of skills are well aware of the skills required to re.nder comprehensive primary health care services. They maintain that trained professional nurses need qualifications in General Nursing, Midwifery, Community Nursing, Psychiatric Nursing and Clinical Nursing Science, and Health Assessment, Treatment and Care. The professional nurses with all five qualifications feel confident and enjoy their work, whereas those who are not fully trained lack certain skills and experience negative feelings working in the primary health care clinics. Recommendations are made for nursing education, nursing research and nursing practice with specific reference to the formulation of guidelines for the facilitation of trained professional nurses to truly render comprehensive primary health care services, with a focus on quality control, orientation, mentoring, planning of training, support systems, and consultancy. / Thesis (M.Cur.)--Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, 2003

In South Africa professional nurses undergo training which gives them different levels of skills. It is difficult for professional nurses to render comprehensive primary health care services without specific knowledge and skills. Some lack skills in preventative and promotive health care delivery; others are not trained to take care of a pregnant woman or a baby after delivery, or of a mental health patient; while yet others are only curatively oriented. It is possible that they do not recognise their own limitations and are not aware of the skills needed to render comprehensive primary health care services. Their perceptions could influence their practice and severely affect the quality of health services. The aim of this research was to explore and describe the perceptions that professional nurses working in primary health care clinics have of the skills required to render quality comprehensive primary health care services, and the perceptions they have of their own level of skills to render quality comprehensive primary health care services, as well as to formulate guidelines for the facilitation of trained professional nurses to truly render quality comprehensive primary health care services. A qualitative design was followed. Permission was obtained from the Potchefstroom District Health Manager to conduct this research. Purposive voluntary sampling was used to identify the three samples who complied with the set selection criteria. Data collection was done by means of semi-structured interviews. Experts in qualitative research evaluated the semi-structured interview schedule. A trial run was done and the interview schedule was then finalised to conduct the interviews. The interviews were recorded on audiotape and then transcribed. The interviewer made field notes to serve as an analytical basis for the collected data. Data was collected until data saturation was achieved. Data analysis was done by means of open coding. A co-coder was appointed and two consensus meetings took place. The findings indicated that professional nurses perceive the skills required to render quality comprehensive primary health care services as the ability to assess, diagnose and manage patients, as well as specific skills acquired during the various nurse training programmes. The more comprehensively trained, the more competent they feel. The less comprehensively trained, the more negative they experience their work. They view their own level of skills as ranging from adequate to lacking and inadequate, depending on their training. They feel that it is impo~ant to develop skills ranging from computer skills to the full range of skills. The conclusions drawn are that the professional nurses with different training and levels of skills are well aware of the skills required to re.nder comprehensive primary health care services. They maintain that trained professional nurses need qualifications in General Nursing, Midwifery, Community Nursing, Psychiatric Nursing and Clinical Nursing Science, and Health Assessment, Treatment and Care. The professional nurses with all five qualifications feel confident and enjoy their work, whereas those who are not fully trained lack certain skills and experience negative feelings working in the primary health care clinics. Recommendations are made for nursing education, nursing research and nursing practice with specific reference to the formulation of guidelines for the facilitation of trained professional nurses to truly render comprehensive primary health care services, with a focus on quality control, orientation, mentoring, planning of training, support systems, and consultancy. / Thesis (M.Cur.)--Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, 2003