Riglyne vir kliniese begeleiding van studentverpleegkundiges deur die kliniese begeleidingspan

Abstract

The objectives of high-quality nursing are the maintenance and restoration or promotion of the good health of the patient. High-quality nursing implies nursing which is service-directed, comprehensive and caring. In order to facilitate the student nurse, who is in her personal and professional formative years, in her quest to achieve such high-quality nursing, effective accompaniment of the student nurse is necessary. Clinical accompaniment in the practice area, where the art and science of nursing are realised, forms an indispensable part of the student nurse's accompaniment and requires the involvement of the full clinical accompaniment team, within a partnership context. The clinical accompaniment team consists of the professional unit nurse, lecturer and clinical lecturer. However, over the years the participation of each varied, and differences in opinion arose both in South Africa and abroad regarding who should be the actual accompanying person. In the general wards of hospitals in the Westvaal Region of the North-West Province, points of view regarding the clinical accompaniment of student nurses are often also negative , as though clinical accompaniment is not part of the nursing function and also as though there is no time for it. Actualisation of clinical accompaniment in this province therefore to a large extent remains in abeyance. The student nurse is consequently left to her own devices in her quest to become an independent professional practitioner who renders high-quality nursing. This research therefore has as its objective, within the context of the Westvaal Region of the North-West Province, to: - investigate the experience of all ranks of the professional nursing staff in the general wards and of the lecturers teaching General Nursing Science in relation to their own and the others' involvement in the clinical accompaniment of student nurses, and - describe guidelines supported by this research by which all members of the clinical accompaniment team will become involved in the clinical accompaniment of the student nurse and thereby facilitate her quest to become an independent professional practitioner who renders high-quality nursing. Data was collected by means of three focus groups within a qualitative research design. Two focus groups were composed of professional unit nurses from two hospitals and the third focus

group of lecturers from the university and the nursing college concerned. All participants were asked one phenomenological question during the focus groups, and responses were taped. The verbatim transcriptions of the focus groups were analysed by means of content analysis. In this research it was found that the involvement of the members of the clinical accompaniment team varied, with a disturbance in the partnership relationship, so that clinical accompaniment did not come fully into its own. The possibilities of applying this research to nursing education, nursing research and the practice of nursing are described, with specific reference to its application in the training of nurses, as guidelines formulated from research findings and literature. These guidelines are formulated in respect of the implementation of the clinical accompaniment process, effective interpersonal relations, in-service training in teaching-learning principles and the expansion of the lecturer's skills in practice. The implementation of the guidelines could possibly lead to a partnership relationship in the clinical accompaniment team, which could enhance involvement in clinical accompaniment and could thus lead to the facilitation of the student nurse's quest to become an independent professional practitioner who renders high-quality nursing.