Investigating the challenges of delivering basic quality patient care in selected Gauteng government hospitals

MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2018The South African Nursing profession is experiencing a crisis – this is the opinion of various academics as well as politicians. Addressing the crisis is not necessarily always within the ability of nursing personnel, but rather various stakeholders on provincial and national level. Guided by the research question “What currently prevents basic quality nursing care in Government hospital institutions?” a scientific investigation was undertaken. The main goal was to investigate obstacles that hinder nursing personnel to deliver basic quality patient care in these institutions. Two district hospitals were identified in the eastern parts of Gauteng. The objectives set out for this study were: • to determine whether adequate staffing is available to render nursing care; • to evaluate whether current nurses experience job satisfaction at the institution; • to determine whether nursing staff have access to necessary resources to deliver quality nursing care; and • to evaluate whether nursing staff receive the necessary support and supervision from relevant superiors while performing nursing duties. A quantitative approach was applied with a descriptive non-experimental design. The population comprised all the nursing staff available at the time of data collection working in five different units, as selected by the researcher, in the two district hospitals. Data collection was done using a structured questionnaire. Ethical clearance was obtained from the North-West University and informed consent from the participants was also obtained. From a population of 115, the final sample of nursing staff was N=50; all members were initially invited to participate. The questionnaires were collected by the researcher personally and it was analysed with the support of a statistician from the North-West University. The data was expressed in tables and frequencies. Comparisons between variables were made using cross-tabulations with a Cramer’s V and phi coefficient. The reliability of the Likert scale questionnaire was determined through the - ii - calculation of a Cronbach alpha for sections of the instrument and an average of 0.7 was achieved. This indicated a high reliability of the data. The following recommendations were made according to the four research questions after an in-depth study was undertaken to identify key issues regarding obstacles that hinder the quality of basic nursing care. When these key issues are addressed, it might be the start of a positive change in the way nursing staff perceive the quality of nursing care they have to render in terms of adequate staff provision, increasing job satisfaction that nurses are experiencing currently in these institutions, which has a direct effect on their ability to deliver quality nursing care. Furthermore, the role that nursing management plays in nurses’ ability to deliver quality care was investigated, as well as, lastly, the availability of equipment and consumables that nurses need to render proper patient care.Master