Career advancement of professional nurses at a regional hospital in Gauteng.

BACKGROUND:  Career advancement is of importance to professional nurses and a motivation for those who desire to occupy leadership positions. However, there were perceived barriers enunciated by participants, which were seen as contributory factors that hinder their progression in the institution. OBJECTIVES:  The objective of the study was to explore and describe the perceptions of professional regarding their career advancement. METHOD:  The study was conducted at a regional hospital in Gauteng. A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive design that is contextual was used. Non-probability purposive sampling method was used to draw the sample from a target population of professional nurses. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 professional nurses to obtain in-depth information on their perceptions. Tesch's method of qualitative data analysis was used. Lincoln and Guba's strategies of credibility, dependability, confirmability and transferability were used to establish trustworthiness of the study. Ethical considerations were applied throughout the study. RESULTS:  A lack of recognition of postgraduate qualifications, no opportunities for self-identification of interest to lead, no mentoring processes for potential leader and succession planning and emotional experiences were barriers to career advancement. The researcher recommended that recognition of further qualifications, enhancement of self-identification for leadership roles, mentoring of young professionals for leadership and succession planning be considered to enhance career development of the professional nurses. CONCLUSION:  The findings suggest that professional nurses encounter significant challenges to career advancement in this regional hospital.Contribution: Nurse managers to identify, mentor and support professional nurses for leadership positions in their career.

Decolonisation of the nursing education curriculum in Gauteng province, South Africa: A concept analysis.

Background: Decolonisation of the nursing education curriculum has become more important than ever. The nursing profession has been colonised since its founding era by Florence Nightingale. Victorian curriculum has been taught over decades in nursing. There is a knowledge gap of what decolonisation means in the profession. Aim: The purpose of this article is to describe the concept analysis process that was followed to clarify the concept of 'decolonisation' of the curriculum, provide conceptual meaning in nursing education, and formulate a theoretical definition. Setting: Nursing education practice in Gauteng. Methods: Definitions, nature, characteristics, and uses of decolonisation were sought and the researchers explored 52 publications, which included dictionaries, encyclopaedias, thesauri, conference articles, research reports, journal articles and subject-related literature across multiple disciplines, to critically analyse the concept 'decolonisation'. A 10-year period from 2012 to 2022 was used to search several databases. Results: Defining attributes that included antecedents, process and consequences of decolonisation emerged. The antecedents were awareness, identification of colonial knowledge and thought, colonial attitudes, colonialism, racism, exclusion, denial of colonial systems and curriculum and colonial legacies in nursing education. Events after decolonisation are called consequences. Conclusion: The formulated theoretical definition of 'decolonisation' will be operationalised as further research takes place to come up with a conceptual framework for a decolonised socially just nursing curriculum. Contribution: This study aimed to contribute towards the understanding of what decolonisation means within nursing education and lead to development of models, theories, and strategies on how decolonisation of the nursing curriculum can be undertaken.

Clinical learning opportunity in public academic hospitals: A concept analysis.

Background: Clinical learning opportunities (CLO) are vital educational encounters occurring in various clinical areas to provide the student nurses with clinical knowledge and experiences to develop their competencies for professional practice. However, CLO is a broad concept with varied characteristics that allow ambiguity, limiting its understanding and use. Its ambiguous nature leads to uncertainties and poor development of the required clinical attributes of successful theory to practice integration, higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) and clinical competencies. Aim: The aim of the study was to explore and describe the conceptual meaning of CLO, have a clear understanding and insight into the concept and identify the antecedents and consequences for pragmatic purposes. Setting: The study took place in a public academic hospital in Gauteng. Methods: The eight steps of concept analysis by Walker and Avant were followed. Multiple data sources not limited to nursing were explored and critically analysed for the definitions, characteristics, nature and uses of CLO from different fields of study. Results: The defining attributes of CLO were identified, namely the context, antecedents, processes, consequences and outcomes. The context within which CLO occurs was dynamic, multidimensional, real-life healthcare settings; antecedents included planning of clinical placement, provision of learning outcomes and consideration of the cognitive level of the students. Engagement and active participation in collaborative, problem-based learning activities, community-based research and the use of emerging technologies were the processes identified. The outcomes were autonomous, confident, competent professional nurses with critical thinking, clinical reasoning, judgement, critical decision making and problem-solving skills. Conclusion: A theoretical and operational definition of CLO was developed. The findings and results of concept analysis identified and specified the defining attributes of clinical learning opportunity. The findings can assist nurse educators, Clinical Education and Teaching Unit (CETU) personnel and operational managers to enhance CLO for student nurses to achieve their clinical learning goals and outcomes. The evaluation tools that may be adopted to assess the acquired clinical skills were also identified. Contribution: An increase in the existing body of knowledge in nursing education, considering that enhancing the CLO exposes students to various clinical experiences contributing to their development of clinical competencies to solve complex problems. The strategies to enhance the CLO will be developed, which may also provide vital information for policy development. Conceptualisation of the findings to nursing practice and quality patient care will be integrated into relevant literature.

A Critical Analysis of Indigenous Systems and Practices of Solid Waste Management in Rural Communities: The Case of Maseru in Lesotho.

The aims of this study were to understand and to do a critical analysis of the different indigenous systems and practices of waste management to inform waste management policy development in Lesotho. To achieve these aims, the objective was to assess community perceptions of the impact of the indigenous systems and practices of solid waste management on the environment and human wellbeing. A simple random sampling method was employed. The primary data were collected through observations and survey questionnaires that were distributed among the communities in the study areas. The sample size was 693 participants from a total estimated population of 6917 in May 2021 in the Matsieng, Koro-Koro and Rothe constituencies. The data were analysed quantitatively by using the International Business Management Statistical Package for Social Science version 25.0. The descriptive method was used to interpret the results. For validity, the interview questions were set towards answering the study research questions. For reliability, open- and close-ended questions were designed. The research clearly indicated that indigenous systems and practices are culturally accepted in areas lacking formal waste collection services by the local authorities. The tradition, culture, values, and belief of the communities play a major role in the systems and practices implemented. Although some people convert waste items into useful products, the practices of general disposal were often unsafe from the human wellbeing and environmental perspectives. In Lesotho, a lack of awareness about conservation and sustainable use of natural resources could be attributed to flawed education at the grassroots level in schools.

Erratum: Community engagement in the Faculty of Health Science: A concept analysis.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.4102/hsag.v25i0.1403.].

Experiences of student nurses on role modelling of a therapeutic approach by registered nurses: Recommendations for improvement.

BACKGROUND: A therapeutic approach involves portraying the attributes of being polite towards fellow human beings and patients, respecting them irrespective of their circumstances and having sympathy and compassion for them. Knowledge of therapeutic approach is the initial step towards gaining patients' trust and developing student nurses' communication with patients; however, theoretical knowledge alone may not increase application in practice. Role modelling of a therapeutic approach increases patient care satisfaction and enables student nurses to therapeutically communicate with patients, colleagues and all other staff members. The most appropriate way for student nurses to learn what it means to portray therapeutic approach is seeing registered nurses' role modelling it. OBJECTIVES: To make recommendations for the enhancement of role modelling of therapeutic approach by registered nurses for student nurses at a regional public hospital. METHOD: A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive, phenomenological and contextual design was used. Three focus group interviews were conducted. Data were analysed using Giorgi's descriptive phenomenological method. Measures to ensure trustworthiness and ethical principles were applied throughout the research. RESULTS: One central theme with three main themes and related sub-themes indicated that student nurses had negative experiences on role modelling of therapeutic approach owing to registered nurses' non-therapeutic communication, lack of professionalism and ethical conduct as well as poor quality patient care. However, only the recommendations seeking to address the experiences of non-therapeutic communication which included negative attitudes of registered nurses towards patients, lack of provision of patient information, poor handling of patients' complaints as well as racial discrimination re-handling of patients' complaints will be highlighted. CONCLUSION: The majority of student nurses had negative experiences on role modelling of therapeutic approach by registered nurses. They needed registered nurses to improve their approach towards patients. It is expected that the implementation of the recommendations will enhance therapeutic approach to patients.

Methodology to Investigate Indigenous Solid Waste Systems and Practices in the Rural Areas Surrounding Maseru (Kingdom of Lesotho).

Solid waste management (SWM) is the greatest challenge facing environmental protection and human wellbeing in the rural communities of Maseru (Kingsom of Lesotho). A lack of formal waste management (WM) systems in rural areas of Maseru have resulted in different indigenous systems and practices of SWM. Direct observation and descriptive designs will be employed. This is a mixed methods study of qualitative, quantitative and, non-experimental. We obtained data sets from existing official census and statistics of Maseru. We sampled 693 participants from total population of 6917. We received ethical clearance from Research Ethics committee of Health Sciences at the University of Johannesburg, we recruited six field workers. We have preventive equipment (sanitizers, masks, and sterile latex gloves) for COVID-19 infections in place; we have specific design on caps, masks and bags that will identify field workers as they collect data. We will train field workers, administer questionnaires, interview, and observe participants. STATKON will analyse data. The research will share the results with the Ministry of Environment and the community in Lesotho. The results will also be used to educate the rural communities on improved WM. Where weaknesses are identified, mitigation measures can be evaluated and implemented to rectify the negative aspects and improve the systems and practices. The rural communities face challenges such as waste collection services and sanitation facilities and this fact points out that there is a gap in SWM, which favours the existence of indigenous systems and practice of SWM.

The use of clinical practice to facilitate community engagement in the Faculty of Health Science.

AIM: This article seeks to describe how clinical practice can be used to facilitate community engagement in the Faculty of Health Science. DESIGN: The study followed a qualitative exploratory, descriptive and contextual design. METHODS: The study was conducted in the Faculty of Health Science at a public university in Namibia, Southern Africa. A total of 19 academic staff were purposively selected to participate in the focus group interviews. Thereafter, Giorgi's method of phenomenological data analysis was used to analyse data. Lincoln and Guba's strategies were used to establish trustworthiness. The ethical considerations followed Dhai and McQuoid-Mason's four principles. RESULTS: The three themes that emerged as findings were: facilitation of community engagement through home visits as part of clinical practice; facilitation of community engagement through clinical rural placements; and facilitation of community engagement through interprofessional education and practice. CONCLUSIONS: It is concluded that health science students and academic staff should conduct home visits, students' placement should also include rural based facilities and allow inter-professional education and practice in clinical practice. However, there remains an overall need to explore for community engagement projects that may be conducted in rural settings. Additionally, a generic service-learning course for all undergraduate health science students may help facilitate community engagement through interprofessional education and practice.

Community engagement in the Faculty of Health Science: A concept analysis.

BACKGROUND: Community engagement has been given different interpretations by scholars and organisations; in addition, current scientific literature has not reached a consensus on how it is defined. This difference in conceptualisation may lead to confusion regarding the meaning. The researcher observed that academic staff from the Faculty of Health Science at an institution of higher education in Namibia are not certain of what counts as community engagement. This has led to some activities from the faculty being cancelled from the institutional review reports as they were not recognised as community engagement. AIM: The aim of this article is to describe the concept analysis of community engagement. SETTING: the study took place at a faculty of health science at a university in Namibia. METHOD: Concept analysis was done in accordance with the eight steps of the Walker and Avant model. A literature search was conducted to capture all potential definitions and uses of community engagement. A total of 225 definitions and uses of community engagement were recorded and used in the concept analysis. A list of definitions and uses of the concept of community engagement were documented with their citations, in a table with three columns. The first column (analysis) consisted of the identified definitions and uses of community engagement from the relevant literature. The second column (synthesis) consisted of reduced statements of the content presented in the first column. The third column (derivation) consisted of the final reduction into categories and connotations derived from the second column. FINDINGS: Three broad categories were revealed as findings: (1) the antecedents of community engagement, which included community challenges, health inequalities, societal needs and the need for a social responsive approach in education, research and services; (2) a three-phase process of community engagement; and (3) the outcomes of community engagement. A theoretical definition and a conceptual map for the concept of community engagement were drawn from the findings. RECOMMENDATION: The results of the concept analysis of community engagement will be used to develop strategies for its facilitation in the Faculty of Health Science.

Student nurses' experiences regarding their clinical learning opportunities in a public academic hospital in Gauteng province, South Africa.

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 (general, psychiatry and community) and midwife, as they would have acquired at least 1 year of clinical experience. Four focus groups, which comprised six to eight participants, were constituted, and research was conducted until data were saturated. Field notes were simultaneously taken to enrich the data collected. Thematic coding of qualitative data was used. Principles of trustworthiness and ethical principles were adhered to. RESULTS: The study revealed four themes. Three were negative experiences that included overcrowding, negative emotional experiences of student nurses and challenges of professional nurses. A theme concerning positive experience entailed knowledge-sharing amongst various health care disciplines. CONCLUSION: It was evident that student nurses had more negative emotional experiences than positive experiences. Therefore, the need to enhance their clinical learning opportunities in order to address the optimisation of learning experiences is eminent.

Educational challenges as experienced by pregnant student nurses at a college in Mpumalang.

BACKGROUND:  Student nurses at a college in Mpumalanga fall pregnant before they complete their training, and some commence training while pregnant and face educational challenges in both theoretical and clinical learning areas. It becomes impossible for them to complete their training on time. OBJECTIVES:  The objectives of this study were to explore and describe educational challenges as experienced by pregnant student nurses at a college in Mpumalanga and to formulate recommendations that can be used by the college and pregnant student nurses to address their educational challenges. METHODS:  A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design was used. Ten student nurses were selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected by means of in-depth unstructured individual phenomenological interviews between September and November 2016. Data were analysed using Giorgi's qualitative thematic analysis method. RESULTS:  The central theme that emerged from this study confirmed that pregnant student nurses experienced educational challenges negatively. Four main themes that emerged were academic challenges, failure to write examinations, support system and maternity leave. These findings had a negative impact on their education. CONCLUSION:  There is a need for the college to minimise the identified educational challenges to promote completion of training on time.

The use of the Socratic inquiry to facilitate critical thinking in nursing education.

BACKGROUND: Critical thinking is a skill that nurse practitioners are required to have. Socratic inquiry can be used to facilitate critical thinking in nursing. Nurse educators seek methods to infuse into teaching content to facilitate students' critical thinking skills, and one of such methods is the use of Socratic inquiry as a teaching method. AIM: This article aims to explore and describe how Socratic inquiry can be used to facilitate critical thinking in nursing education. SETTING: This study took place in a nursing department at a university in Johannesburg. METHODS: A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual design was used. Purposive sampling was used to draw a sample of 15 nurse educators determined by data saturation. Miles, Huberman and Saldaña's methodology of qualitative data analysis was used. Lincoln and Guba's strategies for trustworthiness and Dhai and McQuoid-Mason's principles of ethical consideration were used. RESULTS: Three main themes emerged: the context necessary for Socratic inquiry, dispositions in Socratic inquiry and strategies to use in Socratic inquiry to facilitate critical thinking skills of students. CONCLUSIONS: Socratic inquiry can be used both in education and practice settings to facilitate the use of critical thinking skills to solve problems.

Educational challenges as experienced by pregnant student nurses at a college in Mpumalanga

Background: Student nurses at a college in Mpumalanga fall pregnant before they complete their training, and some commence training while pregnant and face educational challenges in both theoretical and clinical learning areas. It becomes impossible for them to complete their training on time.Objectives: The objectives of this study were to explore and describe educational challenges as experienced by pregnant student nurses at a college in Mpumalanga and to formulate recommendations that can be used by the college and pregnant student nurses to address their educational challenges.Methods: A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design was used. Ten student nurses were selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected by means of in-depth unstructured individual phenomenological interviews between September and November 2016. Data were analysed using Giorgi's qualitative thematic analysis method.Results: The central theme that emerged from this study confirmed that pregnant student nurses experienced educational challenges negatively. Four main themes that emerged were academic challenges, failure to write examinations, support system and maternity leave. These findings had a negative impact on their education.Conclusion: There is a need for the college to minimise the identified educational challenges to promote completion of training on time

The use of the socratic inquiry to facilitate critical thinking in nursing education

Background: Critical thinking is a skill that nurse practitioners are required to have. Socratic inquiry can be used to facilitate critical thinking in nursing. Nurse educators seek methods to infuse into teaching content to facilitate students' critical thinking skills, and one of such methods is the use of Socratic inquiry as a teaching method.Aim: This article aims to explore and describe how Socratic inquiry can be used to facilitate critical thinking in nursing education.Setting: This study took place in a nursing department at a university in Johannesburg.Methods: A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual design was used. Purposive sampling was used to draw a sample of 15 nurse educators determined by data saturation. Miles, Huberman and Saldaña's methodology of qualitative data analysis was used. Lincoln and Guba's strategies for trustworthiness and Dhai and McQuoid-Mason's principles of ethical consideration were used.Results: Three main themes emerged: the context necessary for Socratic inquiry, dispositions in Socratic inquiry and strategies to use in Socratic inquiry to facilitate critical thinking skills of students.Conclusions: Socratic inquiry can be used both in education and practice settings to facilitate the use of critical thinking skills to solve problems

The use of the Socratic inquiry to facilitate critical thinking in nursing education

Background: Critical thinking is a skill that nurse practitioners are required to have. Socratic inquiry can be used to facilitate critical thinking in nursing. Nurse educators seek methods to infuse into teaching content to facilitate students' critical thinking skills, and one of such methods is the use of Socratic inquiry as a teaching method. Aim: This article aims to explore and describe how Socratic inquiry can be used to facilitate critical thinking in nursing education. Setting: This study took place in a nursing department at a university in Johannesburg. Methods: A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual design was used. Purposive sampling was used to draw a sample of 15 nurse educators determined by data saturation. Miles, Huberman and Saldaña's methodology of qualitative data analysis was used. Lincoln and Guba's strategies for trustworthiness and Dhai and McQuoid-Mason's principles of ethical consideration were used.Results: Three main themes emerged: the context necessary for Socratic inquiry, dispositions in Socratic inquiry and strategies to use in Socratic inquiry to facilitate critical thinking skills of students.Conclusions: Socratic inquiry can be used both in education and practice settings to facilitate the use of critical thinking skills to solve problems

Argumentation: A Methodology to Facilitate Critical Thinking.

Caring is a difficult nursing activity that involves a complex nature of a human being in need of complex decision-making and problem solving through the critical thinking process. It is mandatory that critical thinking is facilitated in general and in nursing education particularly in order to render care in diverse multicultural patient care settings. This paper aims to describe how argumentation can be used to facilitate critical thinking in learners. A qualitative, exploratory and descriptive design that is contextual was used. Purposive sampling method was used to draw a sample and Miles and Huberman methodology of qualitative analysis was used to analyse data. Lincoln and Guba's strategies were employed to ensure trustworthiness, while Dhai and McQuoid-Mason's principles of ethical consideration were used. Following data analysis the findings were integrated within literature which culminated into the formulation of guidelines that can be followed when using argumentation as a methodology to facilitate critical thinking.