Standards for nursing agencies in South Africa

Abstract

The purpose with this research is to formulate standards for nursing agencies in South Africa. The researcher was approached by the Association of Nursing Agencies in South Africa (ANASA) to assist them with the development of a quality/accreditation programme for nursing agencies. An exploratory and descriptive quantitative research design was employed. A structured two-phase model was utilised consisting of a developmental and a quantification phase for the development of standards and criteria. A series of four workshops were held during which a framework for the standards was developed, draft standards were formulated, refined and exposed to a quantification phase where the Content Validity Index (CVI) of the standards and criteria were determined in relation to relevance, clarity and implementation in reality. The representatives at these workshops consisted of nursing agency managers (N=22) who hold membership with ANASA and attended their meetings. A high CVI rating was obtained with regard to the relevance and clarity of the standards and criteria. Some standards and many criteria are not yet being implemented in the nursing agencies resulting in a lower CVI rating in this regard. The final set of standards was exposed to a group of stakeholders for final validation purposes, by means of sufficient consensus debate. The standards and criteria were reflected in an evaluation guide/instrument and pilot tested by means of a moc survey in a nursing agency in Gauteng. It is recommended that these standards and criteria, as reflected by means of an evaluation guide, be utilised by the nursing agencies and that the South African Nursing Council use them for licensing and continuous accreditation of nursing agencies in South Africa. Due to the fact that the participants were ANASA members, other nursing agencies were excluded and national representation of the participants/validators can therefore not be claimed.


Die doel met hierdie navorsing is om standaarde vir verpleegagentskappe in Suid-Afrika te formuleer. Die navorser is deur die vereniging van verpleegagentskappe in Suid-Afrika (Association of Nursing Agencies in South Africa: ANASA) genader om hulle behulpsaam te wees met die ontwikkeling van 'n gehalte/ akkrediteringsprogram vir verpleegagentskappe. 'n Verkennende, beskrywende kwantitatiewe navorsingsontwerp is nagevolg. 'n Gestruktureerde twee-fase model is benut, bestaande uit 'n ontwikkelings-en kwantifiseringsfase vir die ontwikkeling van die standaarde en kriteria. 'n Reeks van vier werkswinkels is gehou waartydens 'n konseptuele raamwerk vir die standaarde ontwikkel is, voorlopige standaarde opgestel, verfyn en aan 'n gekwantifiseerde fase onderwerp is waartydens die inhoudsgeldigheidsindeks ten opsigte van relevansie, duidelikheid en realiteit bepaal is. Die verteenwoordigers by hierdie werkswinkels het uit verpleegagentskapbestuurders (N=22) bestaan wat lede van ANASA is en hul vergaderings bygewoon het. 'n Hoë inhoudsgeldigheidsindeks ten opsigte van relevansie en duidelikheid is verkry. Sommige standaarde en heelwat kriteria word nog nie in die verpleegagentskappe toegepas nie met 'n gevolglike lae inhoudsgeldigheidsindeks wat vir realiteit bereik is. Die finale stel standaarde en kriteria is aan rolspelers blootgestel vir die finale validering van die standaarde by wyse van toereikende konsensusdebat. Hierdie standaarde is in die vorm van 'n evaluasie-instrument gereflekteer en by wyse van 'n loodsstudie in 'n agentskap in Gauteng uitgetoets. Daar word aanbeveel dat die standaarde en kriteria, wat in die vorm van 'n evaluasiegids gereflekteer word, deur verpleegagentskappe benut word en dat die Suid-Afrikaanse Raad op Verpleging die standaarde vir lisensiëring en volgehoue akkreditering van verpleegagentskappe in Suid-Afrika gebruik. Weens die feit dat die deelnemers/valideerders ANASA lede is, is ander verpleegagentskappe uitgesluit en kan die navorser nie aanspraak op nasionale verteenwoordiging maak nie.


Health SA Gesondheid Vol.6(4) 2003: 21-36