The influence of nurse educator-student interpersonal relationships on employability and readiness to practice in South Africa

Abstract

Background: South Africa is in a crisis with a shortage of qualified nurses, yet the unemployment rate is high. Nurses are a critical part of the healthcare delivery system. A measurable number of nursing graduates are unemployed due to diverse reasons. This has led to an increase in professional misconduct cases, resulting in poor quality healthcare services. A key and overlooked aspect is the educator-student interpersonal relationship impact on competency. The situation is exacerbated by nurse learners' lack of or inadequate professional socialisation. Guided by this, the researcher was compelled to conduct a study aiming to bring about a model for interpersonal relationships for student nurses’ employability and readiness to practice. Aim: The purpose of the study was to critically explore and describe the influences of soft interpersonal skills acquired from nursing education institutions on student nurses’ readiness to practice, and its effects on employability for quality healthcare services. Methodology: The study utilised a qualitative, exploratory-descriptive phenomenological approach. Thirty-two participants were purposively sampled and engaged in in-depth individual and focus group interviews, generating data on training from nurse educators and student nurses in the selected nursing education institutions. Thematic data analysis was conducted. Study Findings: The three concepts that stood out from the results to influence program contents are Attitudes and behaviours, Emotional intelligence, and intellectual humility. The current curriculum inculcates these concepts within the different aspects of the curriculum without deliberation on each of them as stand-alone key element characteristics. The two stages were combined to identify and define the main concepts. Contribution to knowledge: A description of the model entailed a visual portrayal, a description of the structure and process of the model. Guidelines for operationalising the model were developed. Model evaluation was done.

Implications for practice and conclusion: It is anticipated that the knowledge obtained from the results of this research will be implemented to improve the development of employability and readiness to practice competency.