A model for collaboration between nursing education institutions in the north west province of south Africa

Abstract

The education and training of professional nurses in South Africa is done in colleges administered by Provincial Departments of Health, and in universities administered by the Department of Higher Education and Training. The South African Nursing Council (SANC) has introduced new qualifications that require nursing colleges to transform to Higher Education in order to offer the qualification of a Bachelor's degree for professional nurses as required in the SANC changes, and in order to conform with the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) Act No. 67 of 2008. With the changing landscape of nursing education, there is a need for all sectors providing nursing education to work together towards a common goal. This will facilitate better use of teaching and learning resources. The purpose of this study was to develop a model for collaboration between nursing education institutions in the North West Province of South Africa. A mixed methods design using the Convergence Model of triangulation was utilized. The Social Exchange Theory provided a framework for the study (D' Armour et al., 2005). The basic concepts of the theory were used to structure data collection and analysis. Ethical clearance was obtained from the university, and permission was granted by the Provincial Department of Health. Information about the study was given and consent sought from the stakeholders interviewed and the educators who completed the questionnaire which was used to collect data from 66 nurse educators. An interview guide was used to interview 15 nurse education and training stakeholders. Data collection and analysis were done concurrently and results converged. Themes which emerged from the interviews included identifying collaboration goals, establishing a conducive environment for the collaboration, maximizing exchange of resources, role clarification and perceived challenges. Each theme had two or more categories. Quantitative results showed high agreement percentages (84.13% to 100%) on most of the basic concepts and themes. The lowest agreement percentage was 53.97% with comments for and against central and decentralized management of the nurse education institutions in collaboration. A framework for the model of collaboration was developed using the five stage process of the social exchange theory, and a survey list with activity aspects guided by Dickoff, James & Wiedenbach (1968: 422-423). The model indicates a framework, agents, recipients, procedure, dynamics and terminus of the collaboration.