An evaluation of the relevance and appropriateness of post-basic nursing programmes offered by the University of Zululand in meeting graduates’ needs

Ba Kubheka,Pn Nzimande

doi:10.4102/curationis.v28i1.907

Abstract

This article aims at evaluating the relevance and appropriateness of post-basic nursing programmes of the University of Zululand Nursing Science Department in meeting the educational needs of the graduates in the Province. An explanatory descriptive survey was conducted in the hospitals,clinics, nursing colleges, nursing schools and the University of Zululand where the nursing graduates worked. Two sets of interview schedules were designed, one for nursing graduates and one for their supervisors. These interview schedules consisted of open and closed-ended questions. The total number of graduates was 75 and 29 supervisors. The respondents were purposively and conveniently selected according to the availability of post-basic nursing graduates in each health and nursing education institution. The study revealed that post-basic nursing programmes of the University of Zululand catered for the changing learning needs of the graduates. This was due to the comprehensiveness of the programmes and their focus on community based and primary based health care from 1996. Based on the findings of the research it was recommended that a continuous evaluation of the post-basic nursing programmes is done, in order to check if they still meet the changing learning needs of the graduates. It was further recommended that the Nursing Science Department should develop more advanced clinical nursing programmes in order to cater for the recent learning needs of the graduates.

Highlights

Introduction provinceEach nursing educational institution provide its own nurs ing educational programmes that differ from those of other institutions
An exploratory and descriptive survey was used to collect data. This was used to evaluate the impact of post-basic nursing programmes offered by the University of Zululand and the relevance and appropriateness of these programmes in catering for the educational needs o f the graduates
The results indicates that the nursing graduates of the University of Zululand and their supervisors were employed in rural, urban and suburban areas namely, 33.30%

Summary

Introduction

Introduction provinceEach nursing educational institution provide its own nurs ing educational programmes that differ from those of other institutions. Pietzak, Ramlar, Ford, Renner and Guilbert (1990: 220) indicate that pro gramme evaluation is done to assess the value or to make judgements on the worth of the programmes This was the reason why the post-basic nursing programmes of the Uni versity o f Zululand’s Nursing Science Department were evaluated to determine whether they are appropriate and relevant to the needs o f the graduates in KwaZulu-Natal. When the Nursing Science Department was established in 1981, the comprehensive health service approach was fol lowed in South Africa as a whole, including KwaZulu-Natal. This approach emphasised integrating the services and focusing them on the community. It catered for passive learners driven by examinations, learn ing in parrot fashion and completely centred on the teacher (Department of Education, 1997:5)

Objectives

Results

Conclusion