A preparation programme for learners of the diploma in medical and surgical nursing sciences: critical care (general)

M.CurTo be able to nurse effectively in a critical care unit, a nurse needs to have extensive theoretical knowledge, excellent clinical skills and a certain degree of technological knowledge. The Diploma in Critical Care offered at higher educational institutions, in collaboration with private/public health delivery institutions within South Africa, aims to equip nurses with the necessary knowledge and clinical skills they need to work in this stressful and complex environment. Learners found that during the programme for the Diploma in Critical Care they were faced with a large amount of stress and demotivation due to reasons such as not being treated like an adult, the increased workload and the demands of the theoretical and clinical programmes. Some learners were faced with theoretical and clinical challenges and felt that they needed to be prepared for academic work at a higher educational institution, some found that they experienced emotional stress due to a lack of knowledge and the responsibility of being delegated to nurse critically ill patients. If a learner is unable to succeed in the programme the first time there are financial implications for the learner, the higher educational institution and the health delivery institution. It was previously thought that prior experience in a critical care unit was sufficient preparation to succeed in the critical care programme, but not all learners are exposed to the same learning opportunities prior to commencing with the programme and therefore learners do not enter the programme with the same knowledge base. There are also various factors that influence the learner during the programme. A private health group in Gauteng implemented the successful completion of a clinical skills workbook as part of the requirements for learners registering for the Diploma in Critical Care. The workbook focuses on the attainment of basic clinical skills that are required to be able to work in a critical care unit and not on basic theoretical knowledge. In view of the above it remains unclear whether the clinical skills workbook implemented by a specific private health care group is sufficient preparation for a learner prior to commencing with the critical care programme. The aim of this study is to determine whether the completion of a critical care pre-programme study guide will make a significant difference in the success of learners from a private health group in Gauteng who register for the Diploma in Critical Care at a specific higher educational institution. To achieve this goal the following objectives were stated: 1. Develop a pre-programme study guide. 2. Implement the pre-programme study guide. 3. Determine if the completion of a critical care pre-programme study guide makes a significant difference to the success of learners from a specific private health care delivery group during the Diploma in Medical & Surgical Nursing Science: Critical Care Nursing (General). To achieve the goal of the study, a quantitative, quasi-experimental and correlational design will be used. The study will be divided into two phases: phase one will involve the development of a pre-programme study guide for the critical care programme, based on a literature review. Phase two will include the implementation of the pre-programme study guide, and the research methodology for this phase will be an untreated control group with a pre-test and post-test. The pre-programme study guide made a significant difference to the cores of the experimental group in terms of the pre-test and pot-test scores, whilst the control groups scores neither improved nor deteriorated. There was no significant difference between the experimental and control group in terms of the pre-test, post-test, semester marks and exam marks. This could be due to the large standard of deviations that were obtained. The null hypothesis was accepted. The completion of the pre-programme study guide can be used as part of the requirements for learners registering for the Diploma in Critical Care and can help alleviate the stress and demotivation experienced by the learners during the Diploma in Critical Care