The researchers were commissioned to undertake a national study which
examined health facilities' views on a range of factors associated with
nurse education. The low level of representation from the metropolitan
and public category of institutions (particularly in NSW and Queensland)
relative to the representation from the private categories of institution
needs to be considered when examining results in this Report. Despite
this there are trends which evolve from the data around a range of factors
which can inform the decisions made by nurse education providers and health
facilities.
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the public category of institution is more involved in the education of
nurses at all levels including registered and enrolled nurses' preparation
for practice and postgraduate preparation for specialty practice. The private
category of institutions is also a significant participant and to a lesser
extent, the charitable category.
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the public institutions provided a wider range of clinical specialties (service
foci) than did the other categories. However limited clinical experiences
were provided in some service areas which are becoming increasingly important
in health care provision such as day only facilities, rehabilitation and hostels.
These facility types need to be more actively engaged in providing clinical
exposure to all nursing students. This may require stronger collaborative
links between educational providers and all categories of institution where
these services exist.
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the provision of a range of supports for all levels of nurse education was
a strong feature across all categories of institution and represents a substantial
contribution on the part of clinical areas.
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all categories of health facilities were satisfied with the knowledge and
skills of new registered and enrolled nurses at three months (mean 2.50+ in
a range of 1-4) and the level of satisfaction improved in the 3-12 month period
(means 3.00+). Time management skills consistently have the lowest mean for
new graduate registered and enrolled nurses and while this skill improved
in the 3-12 months, it still had a lower mean score than did other skills.
CPR and documentation skills for enrolled nurses were also skills with which
employers were less satisfied.
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institutions accepting undergraduate BN students for clinical practicum
reported low levels of negative occurrences.
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health facilities were satisfied with the postgraduate preparation of specialist
nurses (means 2.4 to2.8 in a range of 1-4).
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all respondents demonstrated a high level of awareness of the retention
factors shown to be important in the literature. Mean scores were relatively
similar for all thematic groups across all categories of institution (mean
2.5 to 3.5) with Team Support having the highest mean score.
