scholarly journals Experiences of Student Nurses on the Use of the Two-Week Block System at the Satellite Campus of a Higher Education Institution in Namibia

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 222
Author(s):  
Gelasius Panduleni Shatimwene ◽  
Daniel Opotamutale Ashipala ◽  
Esther Kamenye

Clinical Training is intended to prepare nursing students for future nursing practice in both private and public facilities. As do many nursing training institutions globally, this Higher Education Institution (HEI) uses the two-week block system as a teaching system. However, despite the two-week block system, it would appear that, due to the increased number of nursing students, the aligning of practical exposure with theoretical instruction is becoming difficult in balancing theory and practice for both student and academics. Such alignment requires institutions of higher learning to establish which teaching systems are likely to promote the correlation between theory and practice. The experiences of students may be used to identify positive learning environment for students. This study aimed to explore and understand the personal experiences of student nurses studying at Higher Education Institution HEI in Namibia in relation to the use of the two-week block system. The objectives of the study included exploring and describing the experiences of student nurses regarding the two-week block system at the HEI with a view to ascertaining the negative impact, if any, of such a teaching system on their studies. A study employed a qualitative approach which comprised an explorative and descriptive research design, using purposive sampling. The research population in the study consisted of first to fourth year, undergraduate nursing students who were studying at a satellite campus of a HEI in Namibia. The requisite data was collected from four focus group discussions which were each conducted with six to seven participants. The transcribed interviews and narratives from the research notes were then organised into main themes and sub-themes. Three main themes and nine sub-themes were identified. The findings of the study indicated that two-week block system was associated with challenges as was evidenced by the following themes that had emerged from the study, namely, different experiences of the two-week block system, various effects of the two-week block system and recommendations to School of Nursing (SoN).The study recommended that the HEI extend the two-week block system to a one-month block system in order to give the students sufficient time in which to put the theory they have learnt into practice.

2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-44
Author(s):  
Eleonora Teszenyi ◽  
Cristina Devecchi ◽  
Tanya Richardson

AbstractThis paper reports on a small-scale practitioner enquiry undertaken with 17 work-based learners studying on a two-year Early Years Foundation Degree programme in a higher education institution in England. The first aim of the enquiry was to identify the perspectives of a cohort of work-based Early Years Foundation Degree students on teaching strategies they experienced at a higher education institution in the English midlands. The second aim was to identify how the findings could be applied to curricular and andragogic enhancements for future students. Beliefs and attitudes questionnaires were administered to the students half way through their programme. Findings indicate that students valued strategies that included the direct input of the lecturers they regarded as ‘more knowledgeable others’ (Vygotsky, 1978), yet they rated peer support as less effective for their learning. Findings indicate that early years students’ applications of learned theory to work-based practice may need to go beyond a singular notion of ‘communities of practice’ (Lave & Wenger, 1991). Although these students are positioned and position themselves as more knowledgeable others in their own workplace communities, they regard themselves as lacking knowledge in their higher education community. As members of these various communities, they straddle heutagogic and andragogic approaches in their respective communities of practice. In recognition of this, the paper argues that not only should higher education lecturers working with work-based students adopt andragogic strategies but they should also promote heutagogic approaches that increase student autonomy. They should also communicate explicitly to their students the value of such strategies for learning in the field, both in theory and practice.


Author(s):  
Vladimir V. Iokhvidov ◽  
Marina Ye. Genadis ◽  
Eleonora G. Tszyu

The article is made in the framework of the study of psychological and pedagogic factors of adaptation of students who have started to attend a higher education institution. These include ceremony of initiation in the student life, that is still little considered in pedagogic theory and practice. In our research we realised identification implicitly of the academic traditions presented in activity of higher education institution.. On an experimental basis, it is proved that the organised introduction of students into academic traditions leads to an improvement, compared with students with whom such work is not carried out, adaptation to environment of a higher education institution, situational anxiety, subjective satisfaction with learning at a higher education institution, and academic success.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amalia Iilonga ◽  
Amalia Iilonga ◽  
Daniel Opotamutale Ashipala ◽  
Nestor Tomas

Online learning remains one of the most powerful enablers and accelerators for realising higher education studies by enhancing teaching by means of innovative technologies and pedagogies. However, the success rate of students studying through Open and Distance Learning (ODL) remains very low. Therefore, institutions of higher learning in Namibia should continuously establish and assess the challenges affecting the students who opt to study via distance mode to devise strategies required to address such challenges. The objective of this study was to understand the challenges experienced by students studying through ODL at Higher Education Institution (HEI) in Namibia and establish the challenges they face. A qualitative, phenomenological, explorative, descriptive and contextual research strategy was employed in this study to explore and describe challenges experienced by students’ studying through ODL at HEI’ satellite campus in Namibia. A purposive sampling was utilised in the selection of participants. Data were collected from participants using semi-structured interviews with nine participants. Three themes were identified, namely, the reasons why students chose to study through ODL programme, challenges experienced by students studying through ODL and mechanisms for improvement. The findings of this study call for well-articulated plans and actions to address the challenges faced by students studying in the distance e-learning mode. The study recommended that both Lecturers and ODL programme Administrators should undergo refresher training on distance education annually to ensure that they are aware and can address the challenges faced by their students.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Bohomol ◽  
Camilla Moreira Andrade

Objetivo: conhecer a prevalência, os medicamentos utilizados e os principais motivos da automedicação entre os discentes de um curso de enfermagem em uma instituição de ensino superior. Método: estudo transversal descritivo, de abordagem quantitativa, com amostra de 126 estudantes matriculados no curso de graduação em enfermagem de instituição pública. A coleta de dados foi realizada por meio de um questionário estruturado disponibilizado por aplicativo e foram analisados por estatística descritiva. Resultados: os estudantes tinham entre 18 e 25 anos de idade (85,7%), a maioria do sexo feminino (92,9%) e moravam com familiares (86,5%). Observou-se um alto índice de automedicação (99,2%), e a classe medicamentosa prevalente foi a dos analgésicos (28,7%) utilizados para alívio rápido da dor (88,1%) e levados à utilização pelo próprio conhecimento (73,8%). Conclusão: a alta prevalência de automedicação coloca em risco a saúde dos estudantes e reforça a necessidade de implementação de políticas públicas para a conscientização sobre o uso racional de medicamentos.


2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 405-414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anrusha Bhana ◽  
Sachin Suknunan

The research has shown that many leaders lack ethical practice, but training and development geared towards ethical leadership can serve to bridge this gap in theory and practice. This paper focuses primarily on the key aspect of training and development to promote more ethical leadership within a higher education institution setting. The data were drawn from a mixed-method study adopting both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Simple random sampling constituted a sample of 312 academic and administrative staff members at the institution. The purposeful sampling for the qualitative component was a realized sample of 3 executive management leadership and 9 line management leadership participants, indicating a total response rate of 67%. The results for executive management leadership reflect poor leadership style from the employees’ perspective in relation to respect and fairness, transparency, behavior, and other ethical leadership-related items (of M = 2.74, SD = 0.033). In addition, there was a clear need for leadership to attend ongoing training courses (M = 4.20, SD = 0.904). From the qualitative perspective, more than 50% of the leadership respondents indicated no appropriate university leadership programmes or ethical leadership programs. Therefore, the investment in training and development can promote more ethical leadership style, which in turn can have a positive impact on employees (M = 4.43, SD = 0.740). In light of this, the results provide a strong inclination towards more training and development programs to ensure that leaders develop ethical considerations in their role as leaders.


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yousef Abusaksaksa ◽  
Hilda Vember ◽  
RR Marie Modeste

The aim of the study was to determine awareness and perception of trends in the occurrence of medication administration errors (MAEs) among nursing students. A descriptive quantitative design was employed on two consecutive days and a self-administrative questionnaire was used to collect data. The validity and reliability of this instrument were tested and established by a pilot study. Responses were collected from 291 nursing students at a higher education institution (HEI) in Western Cape, South Africa. Non-probability proportional quota sampling was used and the data was analysed with IBM SPSS® software. The data was presented in graphs, percentages, means and standard deviation, while inferential statistics was applied. The findings of the study revealed that 85.2% of the respondents were aware of MAE occurrence. There was no significant difference between the respondents’ awareness of MAE occurrence and their year of the study. The significant (p-value < 0.05) subscale for the causes of MAE occurrence was the physician communication subscale (p-value < 0.001). Moreover, the respondents perceived the top item to be using abbreviations instead of writing out the prescription orders completely (p-value < 0.001, mean = 4.85). The respondents disagreed that the pharmacy related subscale and its items were causes of MAE occurrence. In conclusion, the nursing students who participated in the study were aware of MAE occurrence during their practice time. The causes of these errors as indicated by the respondents are mentioned in the article. Therefore, the healthcare institutions as well as HEIs must focus on treating these causes in order to reduce MAE occurrence and enhance patient safety.


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