Abstract
M.Cur. (Nursing Science (Critical Care))
Qualified critical care nurses are under internal and external stresses in the workplace,
relating to role conflict, role ambiguity, increased workloads, the need for rapid decision
making and the speedy delivery of care. However, having inexperienced students in critical
care units put responsibility and additional stress on the qualified critical care nurses within
the units. This may result in some of these qualified nurses not being willing to help with the
education of the students. The purpose of the study was to explore and describe the
experiences of QCCNs regarding students working in CCUs in a Gauteng Academic Hospital
and to describe the recommendations to support the QCCNs in the critical care units. The
research question asked was: What are the experiences of the QCCNs regarding students
working in the CCUs? A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual design was
followed to provide an in depth description and understanding of the experiences of QCCNs
regarding students in critical care units. The study followed a hermeneutic approach. The
accessible population was QCCNs currently working in the CCUs in a Gauteng Academic
Hospital. A purposive sampling method was followed. Focus group interviews were
conducted to collect data. The participants were asked these questions: ‘How do you
experience the students working in your unit?’ The follow up question was: ‘What can be
done to help you?’ Data saturation occurred on the fourth (4) focus group interview. Data
collection took place on field trips and was transcribed verbatim from a tape recorder. Ethical
considerations were upheld at all times during the study. Data was analyzed using Tesch
method. The results comprised of a central theme, namely, qualified critical care nurses
experience working with students in critical care units as stressful, increasing workload and a
burden. The four (4) themes that emerged were: stress and increased workload, emotions
about working with students in critical care units, attitude of qualified critical care nurses
towards working with students and recommendations for CCUs to handle stress. From the
findings and the main themes that emerged, recommendations to support the QCCNs were
described. Trustworthiness of the data collected was upheld at all times during the study.