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Faculty of Health Sciences

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Author: search.filters.author.Brysiewicz, PetraHas files: Yes

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    Creating an instrument to measure perceptions about access to health-related higher education programmes in South Africa
    (Stellenbosch University, 2020-12-04) Orton, Penelope Margaret; Essack, Sabhia; Nokes, Kathleen M.; Brysiewicz, Petra
    Background: The South African government has created countless policies that support the need to admit and graduate students who had been excluded from health-science programmes in higher education settings during the apartheid era. Objective: to develop a questionnaire that could be used by various stakeholders to obtain their perceptions about access to health sciences education in higher education settings. Method: A mixed methods design was used; the qualitative stage allowed for the identification of themes while the quantitative stage used measurement theory, to develop an instrument based on those themes. Results: The overarching theme was Achieving equity of access for success is multi-factorial and has diverse & complex challenges and eight sub-themes emerged which were used to create a 17-item questionnaire that has good content validity and reliability (Cronbach alpha=.767). Conclusion: Further psychometric testing with larger, more diverse samples will result in a refined instrument that can be administered to various stakeholder groups, such as current and potential health sciences students and faculties, and used in programme evaluation. Health science programmes can use the instrument to measure access within different disciplines and possible changes over time as innovations are piloted. Different health sciences programmes can be compared and contrasted and objective data can be used to make systematic organizational changes.
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    Nurse managers' experiences with nurse carrying our compulsory community service
    (UNISA Press, 2016) Govender, Selverani; Brysiewicz, Petra; Bhengu, Busisiwe
    The South African Nursing Council promulgated the compulsory community service (CCS) policy, in regulation R765 of 2007, for nurses of the four-year diploma or degree in nursing. The implementation of the CCS policy takes place at public health institutions. There have been no studies to date on how nurse managers experience this process of the CCS policy implementation. The findings of the study will inform future changes to the policy, such as guidelines for nurse managers on how to handle community nurse practitioners (CNPs) that are placed in their institutions. This study explores the experiences of nurse managers with nurses who are placed at their institutions to carry out compulsory community service. Descriptive qualitative design was used to gather data from nurse managers using individual interviews and data were analysed using Tesch’s content analysis. The main categories that were identified were: valuing the CNPs, role modelling behaviours, benefiting from mentoring, dealing with challenges and following the process. The community nurse practitioners were valued by two groups of nurse managers. Support and professional development were provided on an ad hoc basis, leading to inconsistencies in their management. The following are recommended: the guidelines of the CCS policy to provide structured guidelines for the development of the CNPs during the CCS year; mentorship for the CNPs that is evaluated at regular intervals through formalised reports; and a scope of practice for the CNPs.
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    Perceptions of newly-qualified nurses performing compulsory community service in KwaZulu-Natal
    (AOSIS OpenJournals, 2015) Govender, Selverani; Brysiewicz, Petra; Bhengu, Busisiwe
    Background: Compulsory community service (CCS) for nurses commenced in South Africa in January 2008 after it was legislated in the new Nursing Act (Act No. 33 of 2005). Nurses completing their registered nurse programme are registered as community nurse practitioners (CNPs) during the CCS period and make up the largest number of health professionals serving CCS. Whilst health institutions have welcomed CNPs as additional resources for the shortage of nursing staff, no structured guidelines have been provided at a regional level as to how these nurses should be utilised or managed during the CCS year. To date, no large-scale study has been conducted on nurses carrying out CCS in order to generalise the findings. Objectives: To establish the perceptions of newly-qualified nurses carrying out CCS in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Method: A quantitative survey design was used to obtain data from a randomly selected sample of the 2012 cohort of nurses carrying out CCS in KwaZulu-Natal. Results: CNPs have a positive attitude toward CCS and perceive themselves as being well prepared for the year of community service in terms of knowledge, skills and ability to administer nursing care. They identified positive benefits of the year of community service. The concerns raised were limited orientation and support; and a few CNPs experienced problems of acceptance by the nurses with whom they work. Conclusion: It is recommended that all health institutions who receive CNPs develop structured orientation and support for these nurses in order to promote their development, thereby enhancing their benefit to the communities they serve.