Background: Clinical supervision represents an important aspect in the development of nursing students’ clinical skills. At the School of Nursing (SoN) the clinical supervisors employed by the University of the Western Cape (UWC) have limited contact sessions with students in the clinical setting. However, with the increase in student numbers a need was identified to strengthen the support given to nursing students in the service setting.Objective: A preceptorship training programme for nurses was developed in 2009, aimed at improving the clinical teaching expertise of professional nurses. The planning phase, based on a preceptorship model, represents a collaborative undertaking by the higher education institution and the nursing directorate of the Provincial Government Western Cape. Method: A two-week, eight credit, short course was approved by the university structures and presented by staff members of the school. The teaching and learning strategies included interactive lectures, small group activities and preceptor-student encounters in simulated and real service settings. Some of the course outcomes were: applying the principles of clinical teaching and learning within the context of adult education, understanding the preceptor role and managing Results: To date, fifty-four participants have attended the course. Following an internal review of the pilot programme in 2010, relevant adjustments to the programme were made. Conclusion: It is recommended that all the stakeholders be involved in the development and implementation of a contextually relevant preceptorship training programme. It is further recommended that the school embarks on an extensive programme evaluation

Nursing students in South Africa are mostly dissatisfied with clinical teaching and accompaniment in clinical practice. Consequently final year students feel ill prepared for their roles as registered nurses. Many factors, for example the shift from hospital based training to higher education, staff shortages, high acuity levels, greater treatment sophistication etc contribute to the dilemma of inadequate support of students during clinical placements. Preceptors that are either appointed by the nursing education institution or health service may address the issue of inadequate support of students. However, preceptors should be well trained to facilitate learning in the complex and dynamic clinical environment. This article gives an outline for the preparation of preceptors and includes selection criteria for candidates, the content of a training programme, as well as the assessment of programme outcomes.

Background/Aims: Following the decision by the South African Department of Health in 2012 to withdraw the provision of free infant formula milk to HIV-exposed infants, policy makers have grappled with the need to develop guidelines to help HIV-positive mothers decide whether they should breastfeed their babies. The objectives of this study were to assess the infant feeding choices of HIV-positive mothers and to determine factors influencing their behaviours prior to the process of withdrawing the provision of free infant formula milk. Methods: A quantitative approach was employed in this study, including the use of a survey to collect descriptive data on a consecutive sample (n=100). Data analysis was carried out using the IBM SPSS Version 20. Results: More than half (54%) of the participants indicated that their infants were exclusively breastfed, and 46% of the participants reported exclusively formula feeding. There was no statistical difference between both groups with regards to: race; employment status; obstetric history; HIV disclosure status; knowledge and awareness of infant feeding recommendations or policies regarding breastfeeding promotion. Conclusions: The findings of this study show that health-care workers are the main providers of counselling on infant feeding. Inconsistent messages from health professionals, health facility practices and government policies were also observed.

Curationis 33 (2): 51-59Most educational institutions that offer health related qualifications make use of clinical skills laboratories. These spaces are generally used for the demonstration and assessment o f clinical skills. The purpose o f this paper is to share our experi ences related to the revitalization o f skills training by introducing the skills lab method at the School of Nursing (SoN), University of the Western Cape (UWC). To accom modate the contextual changes as a result of the restructuring o f the higher educa tion landscape in 2003, the clinical skills training programme at UWC had to be reviewed. With a dramatic increase in the student numbers and a reduction in hospi tal beds, the skills lab method provided students with an opportunity to develop clinical skills prior to their placement in real service settings. The design phase centred on adopting a skills training methodology that articulates with the case-based approach used by the SoN. Kolb's, experiential learning cycle provided the theoretical underpinning for the methodology. The planning phase was spent on the development o f resources. Eight staff members were trained by our international higher education collaborators who also facilitated the training o f clini cal supervisors and simulated patients. The physical space had to be redesigned to accommodate audio visual and information technology to support the phases o f the skills lab method. The implementation o f the skills lab method was phased in from the first-year level. An interactive seminar held after the first year o f implementation provided feedback from all the role players and was mostly positive. The results of introducing the skills lab method include: a move by students towards self-directed clinical skills development, clinical supervisors adopting the role o f facilitators of learning and experiential clinical learning being based on, amongst others, the stu dents' engagement with simulated patients. Finally, the recommendations relate to tailor-making clinical skills training by using various aspects o f teaching and learning principles, i.e. case-based teaching, experiential learning and the skills lab method.

The findings of this study are supported by Kanter's model of structural determinants of behaviour in organisations, since preceptors who see themselves as having access to opportunity and support are likely to be committed to their role.

The School of Nursing at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and the Directorate of Nursing Services in the Western Cape Department of Health undertook a collaborative project to strengthen the clinical teaching skills of professional nurses in the province. A preceptorship training programme was developed by the school and professional nurses from public hospitals and higher education institutions attended the training. It was, however, unclear whether they perceived a change in clinical teaching skills following the training. The purpose of this research was to explore the trained nurse preceptors’ perceptions of the preceptorship training programme offered by UWC. The objectives were to compile a profile of the participants and to describe their perceived changes in knowledge, skills and attitudes as a result of the training. A qualitative approach was used to carry out an exploratory, descriptive and contextual study. An abstraction tool was used to compile profiles of the participants from records. Purposive sampling was used to select participants from tertiary, regional and district hospitals for three focus group discussions. The data showed that the 80 trained preceptors would be able to precept 1600 students in the province. Five themes emerged from the qualitative data, relating to the change in knowledge about clinical teaching; change in clinical teaching skills; change in attitude; self-awareness; and training challenges. It is recommended that the preceptorship training programme remains a collaborative project.

The aim of this paper is to reflect on the application of a qualitative research method that presents novice researchers with a variety of challenges. It is suggested that prospective users of the grounded theory method should seek guidance from experts in the field. However, to find these experts has proved to be quite challenging. The research topic lends itself to a qualitative study in general using the grounded theory method in particular.

A qualitative approach was followed to describe the experiences of informal carers within their unique contexts. The guidelines of Strauss and Corbin (1990,1998) formed the basis for the development of the grounded theory. The challenges that will be described in a fair amount of detail in this paper include: an understanding of interpretive research paradigms, the philosophical underpinning of the method; its focus on social context; the inductive data analysis processes that allows for the emergence of a substantive theory from empirical data. Prospective scholars should also recognize that grounded theorists follow different approaches to the application of the method. Some subscribe to the traditions of the founders (Glaser & Strauss, 1967), while others choose the analytical rules and procedures proposed by the followers of the method (Strauss & Corbin, 1990,1998).

In this paper I reflect on the application of the grounded theory method to explore the experiences of informal carers during the transition of the elderly from hospital to home. The research outcomes showed that informal carers were facilitating care during the transition of the elderly from hospital to home by revealing the link between facilitating care, the basic social process, and other categories associated with informal health care. These categories include: the prior relationship between the carer and the elderly, the traumatic incident, the need for role fitting, maintenance- and repair care, as well as, the consequences of facilitating care, i.e. connected or disconnected care.

It is recommended that informal carers be recognized as essential community assets and that they are included in the health care system of the country; that they need information as well as financial and material resources and that they require the support of family, home-based workers and professionals alike.