An evaluation of the relevance and appropriateness of post-basic nursing programmes offered by the University of Zululand in meeting graduates’ needs

Abstract

This article aims at evaluating the relevance and appropriateness of post-basic nursing programmes of the University of Zululand Nursing Science Department in meeting the educational needs of the graduates in the Province.
An explanatory descriptive survey was conducted in the hospitals,clinics, nursing colleges, nursing schools and the University of Zululand where the nursing graduates worked. Two sets of interview schedules were designed, one for nursing graduates and one for their supervisors. These interview schedules consisted of open and closed-ended questions. The total number of graduates was 75 and 29 supervisors. The respondents were purposively and conveniently selected according to the availability of post-basic nursing graduates in each health and nursing education institution.
The study revealed that post-basic nursing programmes of the University of Zululand catered for the changing learning needs of the graduates. This was due to the comprehensiveness of the programmes and their focus on community based and primary based health care from 1996.
Based on the findings of the research it was recommended that a continuous evaluation of the post-basic nursing programmes is done , in order to check if they still meet the changing learning needs of the graduates.
It was further recommended that the Nursing Science Department should develop more advanced clinical nursing programmes in order to cater for the recent learning needs of the graduates.