Strategies to improve academic performance of students in a clinical nursing science course

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the reasons for the high failure rate among post-basic students enrolled in a clinical nursing science (CNS) course, and to explore both educators’ and students’ experiences regarding the programme so that strategies could be developed to improve students’ academic performance. The study was conducted in three public nursing colleges and covered one campus per college at Limpopo (Nursing College A), Gauteng (Nursing College B) and Eastern Cape (Nursing College C). The researcher followed an exploratory, sequential, mixed-method research design which was implemented over three phases. The researcher started with the qualitative phase whereby data were collected from nine nurse educators teaching the course concerned using semi-structured interviews. Five themes emerged from qualitative data analysis which are: difficulty in understanding the learning material, inadequate educational foundation, short course duration, students’ failure to maintain a working relationship and ineffective teaching strategy. The study revealed that there was inadequate educational foundation in some students enrolled for the course and that affects their ability to understand Internal Medicine and Surgery (IMS). The content for IMS module too broad to orthopaedic and theatre students and more orientated to Intensive Care Unit and to trauma and emergency students. Strategies used to teach were also ineffective, which result in failure among students to integrate theory and practice. It was also indicated that clinical supervision and accompaniment was also insufficient. The results of the qualitative phase guided the development of a questionnaire for quantitative data collection, which was administered to 150 former students out of the 307 who were recruited. A total of 141 students responded out of the 150 who received the questionnaires from five South African provinces (Gauteng, Limpopo, Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga and Free State). From the 141 completed questionnaires, one was spoiled which gave a total of 140 fully completed questionnaires for analysis. The researcher developed strategies based on both qualitative and quantitative findings. The developed strategies included curriculum assessment and revision, motivating students to develop positive attitudes towards IMS and nursing research, establishment of a meaningful relationship, development of effective teaching strategies that meet all students’ need and establishment of good communicational relationship between the educational facility and clinical setting. These strategies were deemed important in improving students’ academic performance as guided by the literature review and recommendations from participants.