Stress and coping - Perceptions of final year nursing students returning to clinical practice during the COVID-19 pandemic, South Africa.

BACKGROUND: The novel nature of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic places challenges on nursing students as they try to complete the clinical requirement of their training. Nursing faculties need to understand these challenges to support and equip nursing students to enter the workforce. AIM: To explore and describe the anticipated and subsequent perceptions of final year Bachelor of Nursing students returning to clinical practice during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa. SETTING: The study was conducted at two universities in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Both universities offer 4-year Bachelor of Nursing programmes accredited by the South African Nursing Council and were in 'hot spot areas' for SARS-CoV-2. METHODS: A qualitative study with focus groups discussions of final year undergraduate nursing students from both universities were conducted. Data were analysed through content analysis using Lazarus and Folkman's Stress Appraisal Coping Model. RESULTS: Five focus groups discussions with a total of 25 participants were conducted. Three themes with eight sub-themes emerged, the key themes being: primary appraisal and anticipation of returning to clinical practice; contextual influence on primary appraisal and reappraisal to facilitate positive return to clinical practice. CONCLUSION: Primary perceptions of returning to clinical practice revolved around uncertainty and stress. However, through preparation and the process of reappraisal, participants were able to adapt and cope with the challenges in returning to clinical practice during the pandemic. CONTRIBUTION: It is important to recognise the role of faculty in supporting nursing students' transition into situations of uncertainty such as the pandemic.

Pharmacy students experience with PharmacyPhlash - a pilot educational board game.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Pharmacy academics are consistently challenged to incorporate innovative, active-learning strategies to encourage student participation while imparting knowledge. To achieve this, a board game entitled "PharmacyPhlash" was developed by academics teaching in an undergraduate bachelor of pharmacy program. The study sought to document student experience on playing a pilot version of the game and to understand the design strengths and weaknesses as well as the ability of the game to achieve envisaged educational and competency outcomes. EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY AND SETTING: Third-year pharmacy students were invited to participate in the pilot study. Student experience was evaluated using a questionnaire to determine general characteristics of game-playing, students' perceived engagement in the game and its ability to fulfil its anticipated design objectives, how playing the game helped or limited learning, aspects students enjoyed/did not enjoy about the activity, and suggestions for improvement. FINDINGS: Ten participants (six males, four females) volunteered for the pilot. Overall, playing the game improved understanding and application of knowledge and promoted sharing of knowledge and collaboration. Students were able to link pharmacy practice and pharmacology knowledge. It enhanced learners' ability to think and communicatee concisely and quickly. The competitive aspect of the game was the main negative associated with playing the game. Suggestions for improving the game included making it shorter, including mixed groups of students from different levels of study, and introducing a referee to oversee the game. SUMMARY: The current study found that students reported high levels of satisfaction from playing the game.

Using mobile phones and social media to facilitate education and support for rural-based midwives in South Africa.

BACKGROUND: Empirical studies show the value of mobile phones as effective educational tools to support learning in the nursing profession, predominantly in high income countries. PROBLEM STATEMENT: The rapidly increasing prevalence of mobile phone technology in Africa nourishes hopes that these tools could be equally effective in lowly resourced contexts, specifically in efforts to achieve the health-related Millennium Development goals. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perception and use of mobile phones as educational and professional tools by nurses in lowly resourced settings. METHODOLOGY: A quantitative survey using self-administered questionnaires was conducted of rural advanced midwives. RESULTS: Fifty-six nurses (49.6%) from the 113 rural-based midwives attending an advanced midwifery training programme at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, filled in a questionnaire. The results showed that, whilst nurses regarded their technology competences as low and although they received very little official support from their educational and professional institutions, the majority frequently used mobile functions and applications to support their work and learning processes. They perceived mobile devices with their voice, text, and email functions as important tools for the educational and professional activities of searching for information and engaging with facilitators and peers from work and study contexts. To a lesser extent, the use of social networks, such as WhatsApp and Facebook, were also reported. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION: It is concluded that educational institutions should support the appropriate use of mobile phones more systematically; particularly in relation to the development of mobile network literacy skills.

A survey of university students' perceptions of learning management systems in a low-resource setting using a technology acceptance model.

Learning management systems have been widely advocated for the support of distance learning. In low-resource settings, the uptake of these systems by students has been mixed. This study aimed to identify, through the use of the Technology Acceptance Model, the individual, organizational, and technological factors that could be influencing the use of learning management systems. A simple quantitative descriptive survey was conducted of nursing and health science students at a university in South Africa as part of their first exposure to a learning management system. A total of 274 respondents (56.7%) completed the survey questionnaire, made up of 213 nursing respondents (87.7%) and 61 health sciences respondents (25%). Overall, the respondents found the learning management system easy to use and useful for learning. There were significant differences between the two groups of respondents, with the respondents from health sciences being both younger and more computer literate. The nursing respondents, who received more support and orientations, reported finding the learning management system more useful. Recommendations are made for training and support to ensure uptake.

Informal mobile learning in nurse education and practice in remote areas--a case study from rural South Africa.

BACKGROUND: With the proliferation of portable digital technology, mobile learning is becoming increasingly popular in nursing education and practice. Most of the research in this field has been concentrated on small-scale projects in high income countries. Very little is known about the ways in which nurses and midwives use mobile technology in remote and resource poor areas in informal learning contexts in low and middle income countries. OBJECTIVES: To address this gap, this study investigates whether nurses use mobile phones as effective educational tools in marginalized and remote areas, and if so, how and why. SETTING AND METHODS: In rural South Africa, 16 nurses who attended an advanced midwifery education program, facilitators and clinical managers were interviewed about their use of digital mobile technology for learning. Techniques of qualitative content analysis were used to examine the data. RESULTS: Several rich "organically-grown", learning practices were identified: mobile phone usage facilitated (1) authentic problem solving; (2) reflective practice; (3) emotional support and belongingness; (4) the realization of unpredictable teaching situations; and (5) life-long learning. CONCLUSIONS: It is concluded that mobile phones, and the convergence of mobile phones and social media, in particular, change learning environments. In addition, these tools are suitable to connect learners and learning distributed in marginalized areas. Finally, a few suggestions are made about how these insights from informal settings can inform the development of more systematic mobile learning formats.