The nursing student who has undergone the four year diploma or degree training as a nurse also has to undergo compulsory community service as a requirement before she/he can be registered as a qualified professional nurse. While it has been compulsory for other health professionals such as doctors, dieticians or dentists to place students in compulsory community service, it has only been compulsory for nursing students since 2008. This means that the practice is relatively new in nursing and it is not clear how the newly qualified professional nurse experiences compulsory community service (CCS). The overall goal of this study is to determine the experiences of professional nurses placed at the state hospitals in Nelson Mandela Bay regarding compulsory community service clinical placement exposure and to use these descriptions to develop guidelines. The study followed a qualitative, exploratory, descriptive, contextual design. Literature was reviewed in order to identify research that was done previously regarding compulsory community service amongst health care professionals. The research population included professional nurses who underwent compulsory community service in the three state hospitals in the Nelson Mandela Bay. Purposive sampling was utilised to identify the participants. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect information and field notes were kept. The interviews were transcribed and Tech’s (1990) in Creswell, 2009:186) eight steps of data analysis were followed to create meaning from the data collected. An independent coder assisted with the coding process to ensure the trustworthiness of the findings. The researcher ensured the validity of the study by conforming to Lincoln and Guba’s model of trustworthiness which consists of the following four constructs, namely credibility, transferability, dependability and conformability (Lincoln & Guba, 1999, as cited in Schurink, Fouche & de Vos, 2011:419- 421). Three themes and sub themes were identified. Literature control was done to compare the findings with existing research results. The researcher ensured that the study was conducted in an ethical manner by adhering to ethical principles such as beneficence, justice and fidelity. All the participants in the study felt that the clinical placement exposure was a worthwhile experience. The participants expressed a feeling of gratitude that they were afforded this opportunity of practicing under the guidance of experienced professional nurses. To them it was an opportunity to master whatever they were taught as student nurses so that by the time they practice as independent practitioners they would be confident and knowledgeable. The CCS nurses indicated that orientation and mentorship were not always of good quality and professional nurses were not always available as in some units professional nurses were not readily accessible. The CCS nurses were left alone and isolated with no one to consult. If proper orientation and mentorship had been in place the CCS nurses would have enjoyed the community service year more and they felt that they would have benefited more. Had there been a mentoring system in place it could have gone a long way to ascertain that the participants gained confidence and were able to perform tasks independently and confidently. The participants overwhelmingly indicated that unit management should have been included in their CCS year placement. During the CCS year the CCS nurses were not exposed to unit management. This was seen by CCS nurses as a missed opportunity. Had they been afforded the opportunity to practice unit management under the supervision of unit nursing managers, professional growth and development in unit management could have been facilitated. That they were not afforded that opportunity deprived them of a valuable skill as well as personal and professional growth. In conclusion guidelines for placement of CCS nurses in the Nelson Mandela State hospitals have been formulated for implementation. Recommendations were made to enhance nursing practice, nursing education and nursing research.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nmmu/vital:10069 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Mshweshwe, Nonkululeko Mica |
| Publisher | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Faculty of Health Sciences |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Masters, MCur |
| Format | 104 leaves, pdf |
| Rights | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University |
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