Strategy actions to include students in a private hospital's nursing teams: A qualitative study.

ABSTRACT

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.