Abstract
A qualitative research design that is explorative, descriptive and contextual in nature was employed in order to understand and describe the professional nurses' perception of the implementation of a quality circle programme in a public hospital in the Eastern Cape Province. The data-collection techniques were individual semi-structured interviews and field notes. The sample was drawn from a population of 425 Xhosa-speaking professional nurses employed in this institution. The sample comprised eight (8) professional nurses all of whom volunteered for in-depth individual semi-structured interviews. All the respondents answered one question: How do you perceive the implementation of the quality circle programme in your hospital? During data collection and analysis only one theme emerged, namely the perception of quality circle as a forum for discussing patient care problems and future plans. There were four broad categories in this theme, namely. Staff empowerment. Teambuilding in the nursing discipline. Maintenance of standards by nurses. Challenges to the momentum of a quality circle programme. It is recommended that all three tiers of nursing management be involved in the quality circle programme to improve interpersonal, interdepartmental and intradepartmental communication and concomitantly the nursing care.
Highlights
Background to the studyCollins English Dictionary (1991:1268) defines quality as “a distinguishing characteristic, property, or attribute; the basic character or nature of something; ... degree or standard of excellence, esp. a high standard”
This study only examined how the professional nurses perceive the implementation of the quality circle programme
This sampling technique was chosen because it offered the researchers participants who had knowledge of quality circle programme in this public hospital
Summary
Collins English Dictionary (1991:1268) defines quality as “a distinguishing characteristic, property, or attribute; the basic character or nature of something; ... degree or standard of excellence, esp. a high standard”. The sampling criteria for this study were: they could be male or female, as the findings would be understood with reference to both sexes; they had to be professional nurses the ability to speak Xhosa or English was a strong recommendation had a working experience of at least two years at this public hospital was required as this period guaranteed that the participants were acquainted with a quality circle programme. The technique involves non-random sampling of informants that leads to non representative sam pling o f the population (W ilsonl989: 261) This sampling technique was chosen because it offered the researchers participants who had knowledge of quality circle programme in this public hospital. The researcher undertook a literature review to compare the categories and findings
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