School of Nursing

Permanent URI for this community

http://hdl.handle.net/11660/86

Browse

Browsing School of Nursing by Advisor "Fichardt, A. E."

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Attrition of undergraduate nursing students at South African Universities
    (University of the Free State, 2014-07) Roos, Erna; Fichardt, A. E.; MacKenzie, M. J.
    English: The aim of the study was to determine and describe the attrition rate and the factors influencing undergraduate nursing students to discontinue the nursing programme at selected South African universities. Knowing the current attrition rate and understanding why nursing students do not complete an undergraduate programme can be a possible means to decrease the poor production rate of degree qualified registered nurses. These comprehensively trained registered nurses are needed to assist in implementing the healthcare plans made by the current South African Government. They are the frontline practitioners in providing healthcare to the South African population. A quantitative descriptive design was used to gather the required information, with a specifically designed questionnaire and structured interview guide. Two populations were selected, namely Study Population One: Universities, which are grantees of the Atlantic Philanthropies and ELMA Group of Foundations under the University-based nursing education of South Africa (UNEDSA) project. The second study population is identified as former nursing students, who were enrolled at the nursing educational institutions within the selected universities. No intervention or treatments were used therefore, no harm was anticipated for the participants of this study. The expected outcome was to determine, calculate and compare attrition rates at the selected universities and to identify and trend the factors influencing former nursing students to discontinue their undergraduate nursing studies. This information could be valuable in making recommendations to existing selection criteria used to select candidates for an undergraduate nursing programme. Furthermore, recommendations can be made to establish and maintain a data base to gather information of the completion and attrition rates of nursing students per intake. The information received from the data base is needed for strategic planning for the following year. Lastly, recommendations can be made to implement strategies to assist at-risk nursing students, who consider discontinuing the undergraduate programme. The study revealed that attrition of undergraduate nursing students does occur at the participating universities. Attrition furthermore occurs at a higher rate than prescribed by the South African Department of Higher Education. A further discovery was that not all selected candidates register for the undergraduate nursing programme, thus contributing to the low number of degree qualified registered nurses. The second phase of the study reveals the main factors influencing undergraduate nursing students to discontinue the undergraduate programme to be academic and financial reasons. Another factor of a high occurrence that influenced former nursing students to discontinue their undergraduate studies was poor wellness and health. From the above-mentioned discoveries recommendations could be made with regards to the following: - Review the current selection criteria to perform a personal interview with each candidate, establish personality traits of applicants to further select the best possible candidate and include a general health questionnaire and medical certificate to declare the candidate fit to practice nursing - Establish and maintain a data base at each Nursing Educational Institution to determine the number of applicants, the number of candidates selected and the number of students who finally registered for the nursing programme as well as the number of nursing students who discontinue each year - Investigate reasons why selected candidates did not register for the undergraduate nursing programme - Share attrition and completion rates with the South African Nursing Council (SANC) to maintain a national data base - Perform an exit interview with a nursing student who voice the decision to discontinue the undergraduate nursing programme to determine and trend the possible factors that influenced the student to discontinue the programme - Identify retention strategies to best assist the at-risk nursing students to include academic and clinical support, financial assistance and wellness and health programmes