Trends in Nursing

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

Jeanne D'Arc Nibagwire, A Dison, Jennifer Chipps — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 07:53:00 +0000

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, Felicity Daniels — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 08:09:00 +0000

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, Million Bimerew, Rene Deliwe Phetlhu, Isaiah Dada IO Oweye — Tue, 05 Nov 2024 14:28:36 +0000

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, Doreen Kaura, Anneline Robertson — Tue, 05 Nov 2024 14:32:06 +0000

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, Felicity Daniels, Penelope Martin — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 06:27:08 +0000

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.

Defining Person-Centred Teamwork: A Concept Analysis

Alida Viljoen, Ronell Leech, Paul Slater, Tanya Heyns — Thu, 05 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Background

The concepts of person-centredness and teamwork are both concepts that are embedded in healthcare and are both associated with improved patient outcomes. Person-centredness involves thinking about people within an environment and creating a culture of trust, respect and mutual goals. Effective teamwork creates an environment where the workload is shared and normally overwhelming tasks become more manageable. Person-centred teamwork is relevant to modern healthcare environments. The concept of person-centred teamwork has not been clearly defined. A clear definition is needed to develop the concept further and will allow us to implement and assess the efficacy of interventions aimed at improving person-centred teamwork.

Objective

To examine the basic elements of “person-centred teamwork” and provide a clear definition of the meaning and context of person-centred teamwork.

Method

The concept analysis model described by Walker and Avant, (1) was used to define the concept person-centred teamwork. Various bibliographic databases including EbscoHost, CINAHL, Health Source Nursing/Academic Edition and Web of Science were used to search in literature for the concepts. Peer reviewed articles published between 2001 and 2021 were used. The attributes, antecedents, consequences and uses of the concept were identified.

Results

A total of 40 studies were included. Four attributes were identified. Two attributes for person-centredness and two for teamwork. The four attributes are “recognising the uniqueness of the individual”, “relationship orientated”, “inclusivity” and “synergy”. The antecedents were found to be complementary to the attributes. The consequences of person-centred teamwork related to a focus on positive outcomes for the patient, significant others, healthcare team and organisation.

Conclusion

A definition of person-centred teamwork was developed. The definition and constructs will assist in the development of an instrument to measure person-centred teamwork.

When Numbers Matter – An Analysis of Current and Future Availability of Nursing Workforce in South Africa

Susan Armstrong, Catherine A Bell — Thu, 05 Dec 2024 08:01:18 +0000

Introduction

Nurses are in short supply globally and South Africa is no exception. The situation has worsened recently with the introduction of new nursing education programmes without putting contingency plans in place to mitigate against the risks.

Purpose/Aim

The purpose of this paper is to alert the profession to the impact the changes in nursing education has had on the availability of nurses of all categories, in the short and longer term, and to make recommendations for addressing the problem before the crisis leads to the longer-term collapse of the health care system.

Methodology

The annual and time series statistics published by the South African Nursing Council were used to collect data up until the year 2022 which were the most recent statistics available on the website. Projections were based on the known data related to the age of nurses on the register, the number of accredited places at nursing education institutions, population data from Stats SA and the World Bank and other available information. These projections were based on certain assumptions detailed in the article.

Results/Findings

South Africa already has insufficient nurses to meet the requirements for providing universal health coverage of 58,64 nurses per 10 000. Unless urgent steps are taken to increase nurse training, the country will be short of 260 458 nurses by the year 2030 and just over 400 000 nurses by the year 2054.

Conclusion

Calculating training needs is complex and this article shows only the tip of the iceberg, but it is clear that it is imperative that all stakeholders who influence nursing education in South Africa come together to avert this crisis.