Abstract
M.Cur.
With the announcement of the devolution of primary health care services to the
local authority by the Cabinet in 1991, the role fulfilment of the community health
nurse becomes more complex and greater demands are continuously made on her.
The question, to what extent will the Implementation of primary health care (with
the critical elements as framework) make greater demands on her role and
function, led to this study.
An exploratory, descriptive study, within a contextual framework was carried out.
The purpose of the research was to analyse the task of the nursing staff working
at local government, to determine which critical elements In primary health care
are seen as part of the tasks of the community health nurse and to give guidelines
with regard to primary health care and community health nursing.
Content analyses done of job descriptions Indicated that some of the critical
elements of primary health care are not expected to be performed by the nursing
staff.
According to the information gained through the questionnaires, nurses do more
than is expected of them as Indicated In their job descriptions.
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According to the conclusions resulting from this study, most of the critical
elements of primary health care is being performed by nurses as part of their duty.
The most Important recommendations Include the training of those nurses who feel
that they need refresher courses with regard to the examination of patients and
the making of diagnoses. Nurses need to know about the changes and what Is
expected of them In future as a result of these changes.