| Summary |
The nurse is the single most important frontline health worker (Ntshona, 2000:2). Without nurses
the clinics, community health centres and hospitals cannot function. It is therefore critical that
nurse education and the supply of nurses form an integral part of transformation of health
services in South Africa (Ntshona, 2000:2). According to the Department of Health (2006) there
is a need to significantly increase the production of all categories of nurses in order to fulfil the
requirements of South Africa. Attracting new recruits to the profession is an integral part of
increasing production. It is for this reason that a study was undertaken to assess the attitudes of
school leavers towards taking up nursing as a profession, and the reasons for these attitudes. |
| More Details |
One of the initial hypotheses of the study was that there is a decline in interest in nursing
amongst school learners. The NDoH realized that there could have been problems which could
have led to this perceived decline in the interest of learners in nursing as a career. (Cornins,
2007). Health Systems Trust was commissioned to investigate. It was hoped that the research
would produce recommendations to assist the DoH in improving the interest of learners in
nursing as a career, and thereby improving the supply of nurses in the country.
The report adopts the following structure: Firstly, it discusses overall factors that influence
learners in their career choices human factors such as parents, teachers and non-human factors
like salaries and status, just to list a few. Secondly, it discusses nursing as a career choice where
factors both attracting and discouraging learners in either choosing or not choosing a nursing
career, are explored. Thirdly, it discusses measures by schools and nursing institutions to make
nursing more attractive to learners. Finally, attention is paid to measures that the DoH could put
in place to make nursing more attractive to learners. |
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| Keywords |
This Item is associated with the Following
Keywords: nurses. |
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