Cape Peninsula University of Technology

APPLIED SC QUM100A

Chapter 1: Nature and parameters of nursing practice
Anita Serdyn van der Merwe
Activity 1.1: Scenario (Textbook page 3)
Trigger points
You have read the scenario carefully and should analyse the following:
 The concerns and needs of the health care providers at the hospital
 The concerns and needs of the very ill clients in the medical ward
 The concerns and needs of Carey, the senior student nurse
 The history of nursing and its influence on nursing practice
 The philosophy of nursing as a basis for nursing practice
 The behaviours expected of a “professional” as they emerge in this scenario
 The difficulties of truly “living by” (consistently applying) an ethos of caring
Activity 1.2: Concerns in health care (Textbook page 4)
About 18.4 per cent of these nurses no longer practise nursing or practise in related fields, for example in
pharmaceutical and medical insurance organisations (Worrall-Clare 2005a; HASA 2006).
Statistics indicate a loss of experienced nurses over time. More than 60 per cent of all nurses are between the ages of
40 and 64 years, with an alarming 66.54 per cent of professional nurses falling within this age bracket (SANC 2006).
Moreover, 13 496 nurses from South African (about 7 per cent of the local workforce) work in the OECD countries,
which excludes countries in the Middle East (WHO 2006: 99). The OECD countries are Australia, Canada, Finland,
France, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Portugal, the UK and the US. This brain drain represents a significant
financial loss in the sense that the cost of educating these professionals is not offset by the benefit of utilising their
skills to meet the country’s health care needs. It also severely affects the health care system in the country – the socalled “fatal flows” (WHO 2006).
McGrath (2003) reports a 25 per cent nurse post vacancy rate in the public health system in South Africa. This
represented 32 000 vacant nursing posts in the country’s public hospitals in 2005. On the other hand, it is projected
that a shortfall of nearly 19 000 nurses will exist in 2011 (Venter 2005)