Educator perceptions of the BSN programme at the University of Malawi

3^rd Euro Nursing & Medicare Summit

July 27-29, 2015 Valencia, Spain

Evelyn Chilemba and Judith Bruce

University of Malawi, Malawi

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Nurs Care

Abstract :

Learning for optimal practice demands good teaching and is a dynamic curriculum requirement pertinent to the needs of the society. The stakeholdersâ�?�? growing concerns and observations on the BSN programme at Kamuzu College of Nursing in Malawi formed foundational bases for exploring the educatorsâ�?�? perceptions on this programme. Educational level makes a difference on how graduate nursesâ�?�? practice, the study explored on how the nurse educatorsâ�?�? had perceived the BSN graduate education towards learning for practice. A twoâ�?�?phased, cross sectional, sequential explanatory mixed research design was deployed to investigate the educatorsâ�?�? perceptions on their graduate nursesâ�?�? educational processes. An analysis of quantitative data from phase one informed the construction of an interview guide that formed basis for the epistemological assumptions of the educatorsâ�?�? perceptions. Purposive intensity sampling strategy was utilized while observing the principle of saturation was deployed to recruit ten participants who were invited to participant during phase one. Content analysis approach, systematic classification process coding, themes and patterns identification was used to interpret text data. Trustworthiness ensured through strategies of prolonged observation, peer debriefing and member checking. Safety and rights of participants were observed and respected. The results had three sub-themes that emerged from the main theme of â�?�?educatorsâ�?�? perceptionsâ�?, these are lectures preferred, created student dependency and learner characteristics guide teaching. The educators were skeptical about learnersâ�?�? reliance on lecture notes, saying that their practice resulted in poor learning empowerment and that the educators had preferred teaching methods that were not based on curriculum benchmarks.

Biography :

Evelyn Chilemba completed her PhD from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa, in 2010. She is a senior Lecturer at the University of Malawi where she teaches medical-surgical nursing courses, ethics and human rights, and nursing education to both undergraduate and Master of Science degree students. She has published 10 research articles, contributed to four book chapters and has four international conference proceedings. She won a fellowship grant with an International Organization Sigma Theta Tau International in collaboration with International Doctoral Educational Network which she shall undertake at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Email: evelynchilemba@kcn.unima.mw