Lizeth Roets

Family-centred care in the paediatric intensive care unit

AIM The aim was to assess emotional support given to mothers of children in intensive care units (ICUs) and make recommendations to nurse managers regarding family-centred nursing care in paediatric ICUs in South Africa. BACKGROUND Family-centred care is an essential component of paediatric care. Nurse managers should enhance implementation and sustainability to ensure quality care. METHODS A quantitative descriptive research design was used. Structured interviews using questionnaires were conducted with 62 mothers whose children were nursed in ICUs in Bloemfontein. FINDINGS Fifteen stressors for mothers were identified and emotional support for mothers in ICUs was assessed and described. Analysis indicated that COPE (Creating Opportunities for Parent Empowerment) can be used within the South African context to enhance family-centred paediatric nursing care. CONCLUSION Competencies of nurse practitioners and other staff involved must be improved and the seriousness and importance of emotional support as part of family-centred care should be emphasized. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT Nurse managers should take responsibility for the training of staff in implementing COPE as a possible empowerment programme in Paediatric ICUs to ensure that emotional support is not neglected.

Cyclic efforts to improve completion rates of masters’ degree students in nursing

Supervisors at Higher Education Institutions are challenged to shorten throughput of Masters degree students in nursing as researchers are needed to improve the art and science of the nursing profession. Globally the completion time for a postgraduate degree in the health sciences varies between 4.7 and 5.5 years. The purpose of the study was to describe strategies that were implemented to shorten completion time and attrition rate of postgraduate students. A cyclic technical, scientific collaborative mode within an action research methodology was used to identify factors impeding completion time in this study. Contrary to other studies, supervision was not an inhibiting factor in this study. Physical, technical, academic and financial aspects were identified by postgraduate students through questionnaires and informal discussion groups with supervisors as well as progress reports. Strategies were implemented to address these. Following implementation of all strategies, 42% of the postgraduate students in the School of Nursing completed their Masters degree within two years. This implies a 34% improvement. Although the completion rate improved it was still unsatisfactory and new challenges were identified during the second cycle, for example, the number of inexperienced supervisors increased and they needed mentoring. Speed mentoring is a possible solution to the problem.

Facilitating the development of higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) of novice nursing postgraduates in Africa

BACKGROUND International research in nursing education has shown to be deficient regarding both the quality of research produced and the building of disciplinary capacity. The CHENMA (Collaboration for Higher Education of Nurses and Midwives in Africa) project aimed to strengthen nursing and midwifery expertise in Africa. Sixteen French-speaking students of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) enrolled for a masters degree in nursing midwifery at a South African university in 2008. Ten of the initial 16 students graduated with a masters degree in 2012. One student withdrew and five students completed a postgraduate diploma in midwifery. OBJECTIVES The objective of this paper is to explore the quality of the output of those masters degree students, namely their dissertation (with specific reference to the demonstration of HOTS). METHODS An exploratory, evaluative, single, descriptive case study was utilised. Realist, purposeful sampling was used. Six of the 10 completed final dissertations were evaluated as well as three reflective reports from the supervisor, translator and critical reader. RESULTS The findings indicated that most dissertations fell below the expected standard, with a paucity of higher-order thinking and application skills. Language, and possibly cultural dynamics, seemed to be the largest barrier to learning and communication. The dissertations lacked conceptual skills, scientific writing skills, logical order of thought and congruency. Analysis of the dissertations revealed a limited ability of novice scholars to explore the nature of information and to interpret and manipulate the data in a novel way.

The Research Supervisor's Expertise or Postgraduate Student Preparedness: Which Is the Real Concern?

The increased number of postgraduate students has contributed to an increased need for competent researchers locally and internationally. This raises questions about the supervisor’s competency and need for training on the one hand and the competency and preparedness of the registered postgraduate student on the other. Eleven supervisors from a school of nursing participated in a nominal group discussion in an attempt to identify the problems experienced in their supervisory practice. The highest ranked problems identified were the need for training for themselves, students’ lack of critical thinking skills and knowledge regarding the scope of postgraduate studies, the high workload of supervisors and the level of language proficiency of students. The conclusion was that compulsory, content-focused educational programmes should be created to provide supervisors with the knowledge and skills required for the supervisory task. Managing their high workload requires supervisors to apply aspects of project management, time management and additional supervisory styles, and these topics should form part of these educational programmes. These programmes must also include elements such as assisting and/or referring students who lack critical thinking skills, language proficiency, computer literacy as well as general preparedness for postgraduate studies for comprehensive assistance.

SUPERVISION OF POST-GRADUATE STUDENTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Knowledge transfer is an inevitable process in higher education where research outputs are largely associated with the production of Masters’ and Doctoral graduates. The supervision of postgraduate students at universities is therefore one of the core responsibilities of academics and is considered a measure of academic output. Supervision not only transfers research and related skills, but is also an intensive and interconnected form of educator-student engagement. The role of the supervisor in providing a supportive, constructive and engaged supervision process is important in the development of next generation practitioners who have the correct educational and skills mix to fulfil the future needs of the profession. The underlying principle of student support during supervision is that an experienced supervisor will be able to move through the learning processes with the student as this becomes appropriate. As the student gains competence in the basic skills of conducting research in a particular field of study, he or she will move to a deeper understanding of the nature and reality of that field. Research and, ultimately, high quality supervision of students, plays a pivotal role in the scholarship of discovery and the development of evidence-based practice.

Scholarship of discovery : enhancing a research culture in nursing colleges

The scholarship of nursing depends on the research culture in institutions. Not all higher education institutions globally expect from diploma prepared nurses to be research trained, but it is expected in the South African and African context. Globalisation and the migration of degree and diploma prepared nurses, should sensitize the global nursing community about the challenges faced when nursing colleges or learning centres, offering diploma programmes, become part of the higher education sphere and need to contribute to the scholarship of discovery. This article reports on strategies that could be implemented in higher education institutions, such as colleges, to enhance the research culture. A qualitative research design was used and data gathered through a nominal group technique with 12 students from different institutions as well as reflection reports from five nurse educators involved in research training and supervision. Participants indicated that the most important aspect that needed to be addressed in nursing education was improved research knowledge for students, nurse educators and research supervisors. Institutions where nurse educators do not have master’s degrees should implement strategies to support students and educators in enhancing their research capacities and skills in order to improve the institution’s research culture. University nursing schools, which have research mentors, should become role models/mentors to support enhancing a research culture in nursing colleges in South Africa and Africa.

TEACHING AND SUPERVISING RESEARCH: CHALLENGES OF NOVICE EDUCATORS

Nurse educators play a pivotal role in strengthening the nursing workforce. They serve as role models and provide the leadership needed to implement evidencebased practice. To be successful in this endeavour nurse educators should not only be role models as researchers, but must also be able to teach research methodology and supervise students who conduct research projects. Educators at some education institutions, who have recently entered the higher education sphere and are not in possession of a master’s or a doctoral degree, ultimately lack a research background. The purpose of this article is to report on a study conducted to identify and describe the challenges faced by nurse educators in teaching research methodology and acting as supervisors when students have to conduct their own research. A qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual study was conducted. Data were collected by means of a focus group discussion with all nurse educators involved in the research module. Participants acknowledged that they face many challenges. They highlighted a lack of human resources; research experience and competencies; research guidelines; physical resources; and a lack of support from the management as major challenges, and provided suggestions to support them and enhance a research culture in the institution.