Views of professional nurses regarding proposed National Health Insurance in a hospital in the Mpumalanga province, South Africa

Abstract

The aim of this study was to capture nurses’ experiences and reality of practice in order to understand their views on National Health Insurance (NHI) policy. A hermeneutic phenomenological research design was used to collect data from professional nurses working at Embuleni Hospital in the Gert Sibande District of Mpumalanga province. A sample of 10 professional nurses was included in the study and semi-structured interviews were used to collect data which was analysed following van Manen’s (1990) approach. The results revealed that professional nurses are of the view that the policy on management of hospitals is the source of health system problems which have caused inequalities and insufficient management of rural hospitals, thus affecting their efficiency in service delivery. However, the study revealed that professional nurses viewed the same policy in the light of national core-standards which they use as an objective tool for the purpose of monitoring their practice. The findings present an opportunity for policy makers to use evidence-based knowledge in realigning policy for relevance, bringing nurses on board in the policy process and understanding the key constituents of policy content.