Student Nurses' Experiences of the Common Teaching Platform for Undergraduate Nursing in the Western Cape Province, South Africa (original) (raw)
Related papers
2010
South Africa's transition from apartheid to democracy necessitated transformation within all sectors to ensure their appropriateness for the new democratic era. In line with the national transformation agenda and the transformation and restructuring of the higher education sector, the Minister of Education in 2002 announced that the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) would be the only enrolling institutions for undergraduate nursing education in the Western Cape. This decision meant that the University of Stellenbosch and the University Cape Town would no longer enrol undergraduate nurses, but would combine their strengths in a collaborative manner with UWC to train nurses for the region. The Cape Higher Education Consortium (CHEC), however, proposed the establishment of a Common Teaching Platform (CTP) for undergraduate nursing education in the region, requiring collaboration between all higher education institutions in t...
2010
South Africa's transition from apartheid to democracy necessitated transformation within all sectors to ensure their appropriateness for the new democratic era. In line with the national transformation agenda and the transformation and restructuring of the higher education sector, the Minister of Education in 2002 announced that the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) would be the only enrolling institutions for undergraduate nursing education in the Western Cape. This decision meant that the University of Stellenbosch and the University Cape Town would no longer enrol undergraduate nurses, but would combine their strengths in a collaborative manner with UWC to train nurses for the region. The Cape Higher Education Consortium (CHEC), however, proposed the establishment of a Common Teaching Platform (CTP) for undergraduate nursing education in the region, requiring collaboration between all higher education institutions in the Western Cape. The Common Teaching Platform came into effect in 2005. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the regional collaboration on the Common Teaching Platform for B Cur Nursing in the Western Cape. An evaluation research design using qualitative methods was adopted for the study. Stufflebeam's decision-oriented evaluation model, which caters for the evaluation of the context, input, process and product components of programmes, was used to guide the research process. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and a record review were used to collect data from the Chief Executive Officers of CHEC; Deputy Vice-Chancellors of the participating universities; Deans of the Health Science Faculties; Heads of Departments, Lecturers and Students of the Nursing Departments of the participating universities. iii The study adopted an inductive approach to data analysis. The inductive analysis procedure described by Thomas (2003) was adapted and used. The results evinced a general lack of application of the basic tenets of change management and a systems approach to the planning and implementation of the Common Teaching Platform. Transformation of nursing education in the Western Cape, according to the results, was in line with the national transformation agenda. Participants, however, felt that people were not yet ready to collaborate and needed enough time to accept the change, given that transformation was relatively new in the country. A critical finding was that important stakeholders were excluded from the planning phase, which led to challenges during the implementation of the Common Teaching Platform. The results further highlighted that a top-down approach was adopted. Numerous challenges with regards to the implementation of the Common Teaching Platform, including inter alia, poor communication, lack of commitment to the collaboration process, lack of adequate resources and challenges with the delivery of the curriculum, were shared by all the participants. Despite all these challenges the results showed that the student throughput rates were not compromised, and that the number of reported complaints from lecturers and students decreased over the years. On the whole, however, participants felt that the goals of the collaboration were not met due to the
Reflecting on some of the challenges facing postgraduate nursing education in South Africa
Nurse Education Today, 2011
Considering the dearth of professional nurses in South Africa today, and the fact that postgraduate nursing education can contribute towards enhancing the competences of those in the profession, I shall examine some of the challenges faced by a group of previously enrolled postgraduate nursing students which resulted in their non-completion of a formal qualification. The focus of this investigation was a 2008 cohort of students that did not complete their non-clinical postgraduate diplomas at the institution where I work. Of the 29 students who did not complete their studies, I have selected a group of 8 students through a purposive non-random sample with the objective to ascertain some of the reasons for them not completing their diploma. My aim was to examine some of the reasons as to why postgraduate nursing students do not complete their qualification and to suggest ways as to how the curriculum can be reconstructed as to counteract some of students' pitfalls. Based on my qualitative interpretive analysis, I shall argue that these students did not complete their diplomas on the grounds of, having experienced a lack of institutional and social support; their inability to cope with the demands of academic rigour; their experiences of isolation and exclusion; and, the inability to cope with unimagined realities. My contention is that if postgraduate nursing is not adequately attended to, the possibility that nursing education would not contribute to the transformation of the profession, is highly possible
The nurse education and training landscape in South Africa has changed in different ways over the past century, with the result that education and training of nurses does not necessarily translate into an adequate supply of professional nurses for the health care service. Today there is a shortage in this category. Factors which contribute to this shortage include nurses moving from the public to the private sector due to perceived better conditions of service, migration, burden of disease, reduction in bed occupancy and an ageing nurse population. Many professional nurses are now reaching retirement, and it is imperative that the training and supply of young professional nurses for the country be reconsidered in the light of this. According to Pillay, the majority of nurses' training begins in the public sector and their knowledge is grounded on this experience. When sufficient experience is gained, they seek out better opportunities in the private sector and migrate to the more developed countries. This loss of experience from the public sector impacts negatively on the capacity to mentor new graduates, which in turn results in the young, professional, trained nurses seeking better opportunities with organizations where they can develop further. The net result of this is that the public sector is left with overworked, older staff who are on the verge of retirement.
African Journal for Physical Health Education, Recreation and Dance
Post-1994, the South African higher education sector underwent a number of reforms to address issues of inequalities, inefficiencies and fragmentation. Reform in the Western Cape Province included pooling the resources of three universities to form a common teaching platform (CTP). Henceforth training and education of undergraduate nursing students took place at a university in the Western Cape as the main enrolling higher education institution (HEI) for the undergraduate nursing degree. This study examines monetary and non-monetary costs and benefits derived from the CTP compared to the previous teaching platform (PTP), where the universities offered the degree programme in nursing independently of each other. PTP and CTP expenditure reports were the source of data for a monetary cost-benefit analysis (CBA). This was a Medias Res CBA study with some ex-ante and ex-post CBA elements. Non-monetary cost-benefit data were obtained through in-depth semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and programme review reports. Researchers used qualitative and quantitative methods for analysis of the data. The study concluded that while monetary benefits accrued to sister institutions, this was at the expense of the sole enrolling HEI, and that it was more expensive to produce a nurse graduate with the CTP than with the PTP. Non-monetary findings indicate that the CTP was perceived to have led to a more inefficient system and task duplication, with unsatisfactory psychosocial effects on both students and staff. However, respondents mentioned that the CTP might have led to gradual improvement in nursing student diversity at the enrolling HEI. The analysed data mostly negated the assumption that collaboration through the CTP would improve undergraduate nursing training through sharing expertise between partner institutions, and reduce nursing education and training operating costs. Some recommendations are made to remedy the situation, including possible termination of the CTP in its current form, reviewing the partners' reimbursement strategy, creating a new platform which is equally owned by all partners, or allowing interested partner institutions to offer their own nursing degrees.
Nurse Education Today, 2013
A fundamental purpose of mergers between higher education institutions (HEIs) in 2002 was to enable sharing of scarce resources between more advanced universities and those historically disadvantaged by the apartheid system of the South African Government. A common teaching platform for undergraduate nursing education in the Western Cape was established in 2005, in line with the transformation of the higher education system, as a collaborative initiative between three universities.In order to evaluate the common teaching platform, Stuffelbeam's context, input, process, product (CIPP) research model was employed. A sample of 108 participants was selected through stratified purposive sampling, and included three deputy vice-chancellors, three deans, three heads of department, 18 lecturers and 81 students. Semi-structured interviews were held with the staff members, whilst the students participated in focus group interviews. Open-ended questions informed by literature and the CIPP evaluation model were developed and used to guide the interviews. This enabled the researcher to obtain a rich description of the participants' experiences. The data were analysed inductively. The results revealed that the main purpose of collaboration was not achieved due to the lack of a common understanding of the concept of collaboration and its purpose; a lack of readiness to collaborate and a lack of sharing of resources. A framework for effective collaboration was developed based on the results. Daniels, Felicity M. ; Khanyile, Thembisile D. (2012). A framework for effective collaboration : a case study of collaboration in nursing education in the Western Cape, South Africa. School of Nursing, University of Western Cape.
Health SA Gesondheid
Background: During the training of student nurses, clinical placement is a compulsory requirement, as it exposes them to learning opportunities for the acquisition of clinical skills. This prepares them to become safe and competent professional nurses. However, the increased intake of student nurses in the Gauteng nursing colleges led to overcrowding in a public academic hospital, thus negatively influencing their learning experiences and availability of clinical learning opportunities.Aim: The purpose was to explore and describe the student nurses’ experiences regarding their clinical learning opportunities to make recommendations to enhance their clinical learning opportunities in order to address the optimisation of their learning experiences.Methodology: A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design was used. A purposive sampling method was used to select second-year student nurses registered in the Regulation (R425) programme for qualifying as a nurse (...
African Journal of Health Professions Education, 2020
Many academically orientated people aspire to achieve postgraduate qualifications. Higher-education institutions (HEIs) provide an opportunity for students to advance their academic careers and to achieve the desired professional development. This article addresses only two opportunities (Honours and Master's degree qualifications) for professional development in nursing as a discipline of the healthcare system. These two qualifications have proven to be beneficial in clinical nursing education and the practice stream, healthcare leadership and administration, as well as the education stream. [1] Depending on the nursing stream, a professional nurse can enrol in postgraduate courses for different reasons, including promotion, improving health and technology, personal enrichment and career development. [2,3] However, this does not seem to be the case for nurse clinical practitioners at a tertiary hospital in Limpopo Province, South Africa (SA). This institution of higher learning has continuously indicated a concern regarding the low enrolment of professional nurses for postgraduate studies. In this context, a postgraduate qualification, therefore, refers to an Honours and a Master's degree in SA higher institutions. Master's qualifications enhance the educative, research and administrative roles of the professional nurse. [1] Therefore, suggesting that having more clinically trained professional nurses with a Master's qualification provides an opportunity for sustaining the nursing profession and improving the healthcare institution. [4] A nursing practitioner with a Master's qualification enhances a patient's safety needs in hospital. [1] Furthermore, interest in a postgraduate qualification is motivated by possible opportunities, such as business opportunities, and research and collaboration with academics and professionals in the same field of practice or the same discipline. [3,5] Therefore, increasing the enrolment of professional nurses becomes important for both clinical and academic institutions (especially considering the growing number of academics who are due to retire). However, this objective seems to be impossible owing to various barriers. Nevertheless, for professional nurses to take advantage of the benefits of a clinical Master's degree in nursing, one needs to eliminate the barriers to enrolling for this postgraduate qualification. Smith et al. [2] identified a lack of time to study, lack of finances, workload, programme limitations and family commitments as barriers to part-time study for a clinical Master's degree in physiotherapy in Canada. In Kenya, [6] barriers for professional nurses who undertake postgraduate courses are the cost of the course, family commitments, course workload and lack of remuneration directly after obtaining the postgraduate degree. In contrast, a study in the USA indicated that there is an increase in nurses enrolling for an advanced nursing qualification, e.g. Master's and doctoral degrees. [7] The authors further outlined that family, finances, support from employers, the complicated application process of the education institutions and age (>38 years) were perceived by other professional nurses as barriers to enrolling for a postgraduate nursing qualification. [7] While employment and education institutions are barriers to enrolling for an advanced degree (Master's) in nursing, especially when there is little or no collaboration between institutions, these contribute to the shortages of nurses in faculties of health sciences. [8] In SA, despite the reported rise in enrolment for postgraduate studies, [9] the nursing profession continues to experience inconsistencies in enrolment and throughput for postgraduate nursing qualifications, particularly Master's and doctoral degrees. [10] These inconsistencies are due to the Background. Professional nurses with a Master's degree have shown competence in improving quality and continuous care, including palliative care, mental health, post-transplant care and central venous care. However, nursing departments at South African (SA) universities experience challenges, such as fewer students in postgraduate courses, including Master's studies. Objective. To explore and describe the barriers that nurses experience regarding enrolment for postgraduate qualifications. Methods. A qualitative explorative-descriptive approach was used to examine experiences of nurses regarding enrolment for postgraduate studies at a tertiary hospital in Limpopo Province, SA. Purposive sampling was used to select professional nurses at this tertiary hospital. Data were collected using a semi-structured interview, which was analysed by Tesch's open coding of data analysis. Results. It was found that professional nurses' lack of information regarding postgraduate studies and lack of funding were barriers to enrolment, as well as not being satisfied with the current educational status and not seeing the purpose of obtaining a Master's degree. Conclusion. The study findings highlight a need for workshops in Limpopo hospitals, especially regarding how to enrol and the importance of enrolling for postgraduate qualifications.