RESUMEN
Background: Student nurse education focusses on preparing competent professionals integral to nursing teams. Aim: To develop strategic actions to include student nurses within the nursing team. Setting: A private healthcare group in South Africa. Methods: A qualitative approach in three phases was used. Thirty purposively sampled participants recorded reflective journals in phase one. Tesch's eight steps were utilised for analysis. Phase two involved non-probability volunteer sampling of 11 participants for the nominal group technique analysis. In phase three, total population sampling recruited nine panellists for an e-Delphi technique that provided data that were open coded. Results: Phase one identified themes, including perceptions of responsibilities, support needs, recognition, conflict and communication issues. Phase two revealed five strategic actions: fair treatment, aligned work allocation, active participation, respect and acknowledgement of contributions. Phase three validated 19 strategic statements underpinning the strategic actions. Conclusion: Unit managers play a key role in fostering inclusivity, impacting student nurse retention. Contribution: Enhancing team cohesion can improve workplace wellness and patient outcomes while aiding in retention and recruitment efforts.
RESUMEN
As part of program evaluation, the New Mexico Nursing Education Consortium, a consortium of 11 state-funded nursing schools, asks that students complete end-of-term surveys. In Spring 2020, a question was added to the survey to elicit challenges experienced by students during the COVID-19 pandemic: "What was the biggest challenge that you had in completing the semester/term?" This question again was asked of students in Spring 2021. Students belonging to schools in the New Mexico Nursing Education Consortium participated in the study. Eight themes were identified for each of the two years. Nursing faculty must anticipate respond to student feedback while maintaining proficiency in face-to-face and online teaching-learning strategies. Waiting until emergencies arise that require different types of pedagogy is not sufficient to ensure instructor proficiency with online pedagogies.