Trends in Nursing

Choosing Nursing as a Career at a University in the Western Cape

Jeanne D'Arc Nibagwire — 2024-10-04

Background: To achieve universal health coverage, there is a need to strengthen nursing education to attract nursing students to the profession. Understanding the factors that influence choosing nursing as a career is key to recruitment and retention in nursing programs.

Aims and objectives: The aim of the study was to investigate the reasons for choosing nursing as a career and the intrinsic and extrinsic factors which influenced this career choice in first year nursing students at a selected school of nursing at a university in the Western Cape.

Methodology. A descriptive survey with a self-administered questionnaire was conducted with 279 first-year nursing students. The questionnaire had 42 items and was based on a literature review of factors influencing nursing choice. Data was collected after class time, captured and analysed in SPSSv28. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the reasons for choosing nursing as a career and the factors influencing this choice. Chi-square and Mann-Whitney U tests were conducted to test the hypothesis of the association between gender and prior exposure on choices.

Results. The study found that altruism was the main reason that first year students chose nursing as a career. Males, however, rated job stability before altruism. Prior exposure also to nursing had a positive impact on choosing nursing as a career.

Conclusion. Findings support the importance of recruiting new nursing students with core values of altruism and the desire to help others.

Professional Nurses’ Rating of Western Cape Nurse Graduates’ Competence and the Required Skills and Attributes

Lindy van der Berg — 2024-10-04

Introduction: There is global concern that newly qualified nurse graduates lack skills and competence, due to inadequate preparation during nursing undergraduate programmes. The alignment of nursing programmes in South Africa to the Higher Education Qualification Sub-framework has created an opportunity to positively influence the design and development of new programmes based on research evidence.

Aim: The study aimed to assess, from the perspective of professional nurses, the preparedness of nursing graduates from a Western Cape university for practice and to identify areas for programme improvement.

Methods: The study employed a quantitative descriptive survey design and included professional nurses directly supervising the nursing graduates during their community service year. The sample size was 71 and the response rate was 56.3%.

Results: Professional nurses rated graduates as competent or proficient in almost all skills. The skills and attributes required for the graduate to function effectively in the workplace was rated important to very important. It was also found that there was inadequate structured support to assist graduates in the transition from student to professional nurse.

Conclusion: Areas for improvement, based on recommendations from professional nurses, have potential for improving the graduate’s readiness for practice. However, some recommendations are not within the scope of practice of the bachelor of nursing programme. The study highlights the importance of collaboration between educational and practice settings in producing competent nursing graduates ready for the healthcare workforce.

Knowledge, Attitudes and Perceptions of Nurses Regarding the Adherence Counselling of Persons with HIV-TB Coinfection

Victoire Ticha — 2024-11-05

Introduction

People living with HIV (PLHIV) co-infected with tuberculosis (TB) account for one in three HIV-related deaths. Retention in care and adherence to medication remain key behaviours that people co-infected with HIV and TB must adopt to achieve better health outcomes. TB/HIV adherence-counselling services provided by nurses are designed to enhance these behaviours, but this remains inadequate as patients still default their treatment plans by not attending follow up appointments and not adhering to their programme.

Aim

To assess the Knowledge, Attitudes and Perceptions (KAP) of nurses towards adherence to counselling of people living with HIV co-infected with TB in a health sub district of the Cape metropole, South Africa.

Method

A descriptive-sectional design was used on all-inclusive population of nurses. The instrument used was an adapted five- point Likert scale questionnaire with original reliability: knowledge (α=.70), perception (α=.77), and attitude (α=.77) in each domains Data was analysed using SPSS version 26. Data presentation was in simple percentages, means and standard deviations. The two-way ANOVA was used in determining the effect of level of qualification and training on nurses’ knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions regarding counselling of PLHIV co-infected with TB.

Results

Most of the respondents 72 (87.8%) were females. The mean and standard deviation years of working experience with HIV/HAST protocol was 6.8 ± 4.63 and number of years working as a nurse was 11.33±7.21. With reference to knowledge of nurses on adherence counselling of these patients, most of the respondents agreed “TB is considered as a very serious disease and health problem, can infect anyone should be explained to the patient during counselling. Regarding perceptions of nurses on adherence counselling PLHIV co-infected with TB, most of nurses 3.89, 56 (69.2%) agreed “Poverty stricken patients just need treatment, as they cannot do anything to improve their health hence counselling not necessary”. Regarding attitudes of nurses to adherence counselling, most respondents agreed “Speak clearly and use language that HIV/TB patients will understand counselling” (mean 4.34, 70 (85.4%). There was no significant difference on effect of level of qualification and training on nurse’s adherence counselling PLHIV co-infected with TB (p>.05).

Conclusion

There is a need for capacity building training in adherence counselling to improve nurses’ skills in counselling and management of patients with TB/HIV. Appropriate training of nurses of all categories and orientation and re-orientation of the patients to enhance support and adherence.

Understanding Health Information Needs, Sources and Barriers to Accessing Information among Professional Nurses in the Western Cape

Million Bimerew — 2024-11-05

Introduction: Access to the best available scientific evidence-based health information enables healthcare professionals (HCPs) to make sound decisions when providing healthcare. However, barriers exist to meeting the information needs of HCPs, such as lack of time, lack of knowledge and skills, and lack of resources.

Aim: This study aimed to understand the health information needs, sources and barriers to accessing information among professional nurses in the Western Cape.

Methods: An exploratory and descriptive qualitative research design was utilised. Seventeen (N=17) professional nurses were selected from primary healthcare facilities in the Cape Town Metropole of the Western Cape, South Africa, using purposive sampling. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted, transcribed and analysed using a six-step method of qualitative data analysis.

Findings: Three themes and eight subthemes emerged from the data, the three main themes being meeting the information needs of professional nurses, information sources and sharing of patient information, and barriers to accessing information. The findings revealed that professional nurses require daily health information about the diagnosis of patients. Sources of information used were electronic, print and colleagues. Despite the availability of computers in most facilities, most participants used printed media as a source of information. Barriers to the use of electronic sources were personal such as skills, and organisational factors (access to technology, time and workload).

Conclusions: The study recommends providing in-service training on digital health for all professional nurses, including how to search for evidence-based information from health databases. Nursing informatics could be incorporated into all nursing training curricula. All primary healthcare facilities should provide nurses with access to computer technology and have free Wi-Fi for accessing applications. Patient health information pamphlets should be made available to all facilities and be printed in the most common language used in the geographical area.

A Collaborative Process for Widening Access for TVET College Students to a Health Sciences Faculty at a University in the Western Cape

Marquard Simpson — 2024-11-21

To address South Africa's history of inequality in educational opportunities, access to education, and programme completion, it is necessary to implement measures that widen access to higher education for previously excluded individuals. Alternate access to higher education through recognition of prior learning, and the success of this practice, has been reported by many South African higher education institutions. An area associated with alternate access that has not enjoyed the same degree of success and empirical recognition, is the seamless transition and successful completion of students from a Technical Vocational Education and Training college to a higher education institution.

The aim of this paper is to present the process for opening access for Technical Vocational Education and Training students to the Bachelor of Nursing Extended Curricula Programme through the collaboration between the Community and Health Sciences Faculty at a university and a Technical Vocational Education and Training College. The processes include negotiation, collaboration, curriculum alignment, selection and registration that were undertaken to widen access for these students to higher education. The process of opening access was found to be a viable approach to ensure student access and success. The outcome could provide a reliable pathway for future candidates from similar backgrounds to articulate from the colleges into higher education institutions.