<em>&lsquo;No member of </em>[health] staff should undertake tasks unless they are competent to do so&rsquo; is stated in the Comprehensive Primary Health Care Service Package for South Africa (Department of Health 2001)document. In South Africa, primary clinical nurses (PCNs), traditionally known as primary health care nurses (PHCNs), function as &lsquo;frontline providers&rsquo; of clinical primary health care (PHC) services within public PHC facilities, which is their extended role. This extended role of registered nurses(set out in section 38A of the <em>Nursing Act 50 of 1978</em>, as amended) demands high clinical competency training by nursing schools and universities.<p>The objectives of the study were to explore and describe the perceptions of both clinical instructors and students, in terms of the reasons for poor clinical competencies. Results established that two main challenges contributed to students&rsquo; poor clinical competencies: challenges within the PHC clinical field and challenges within the learning programme (University).</p><p><strong>Opsomming</strong></p><p>Die prim&ecirc;re kliniese verpleegkundiges, tradisioneel bekend as prim&ecirc;re gesondheidsorg verpleegkundiges, funksioneer in Suid-Afrika as eerste-linie verskaffers van kliniese prim&ecirc;re gesondheidsorg (PGS) dienste binne die publieke PGS fasiliteite. Dit is hulle uitgebreide rol. Hierdie uitgebreide rol van die verpleegkundige (soos deur <em>Wet op Verpleging,</em>No 50 van 1978, artikel 38A voorgeskryf), vereis opleiding in kliniese vaardighede van ho&euml; gehalte deur verpleegskole en universiteite.</p><p>Die doelwitte van die navorsing was om die persepsies van beide kliniese dosente en leerders,met betrekking tot die redes vir swak kliniese vaardighede, repektiewelik te verken en te beskryf.Twee temas is deur die resultate as uitdagings (hoof redes) vir die swak vaardighede van leerders aangetoon, naamlik uitdagings in die PGS kliniese praktyk en die uitdagings in die leerprogram (universiteit).</p><p><strong>How to cite this article:</strong>Magobe, N.B.D., Beukes, S.,M&uuml;ller, A., 2010, 'Reasons for students&rsquo; poor clinical competencies in the Primary Health Care: Clinical nursing, diagnosis treatment and care programme&rsquo;,<em> Health SA Gesondheid</em> 15(1), Art.#525, 6 pages. DOI: 10.4102/hsag.v15i1.525</p>

Setting:The study was conducted at primary healthcare clinics in Ekurhuleni, one of the metropolitan districts, situated in an area east of the Gauteng province.Methods: A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design was used for this study. Participants were purposefully selected from the population and consisted of individuals who willingly consented to participate. Twelve semi-structured individual interviews were conducted. Results:The study findings revealed challenges with management practices, for example, non-involvement in decision-making, lack of support and poor internal communication practices. In addition, challenges with human, material and financial resources were stated as reasons for non-compliance with quality standards. Conclusion:Recommendations to facilitate compliance with quality standards were described, which included implementation of effective management practices and allocation of adequate healthcare resources required to facilitate such compliance.

Background The Republic of South Africa (RSA) is shifting towards universal health coverage and a unified health system. This milestone can be achieved through the implementation of National Health Insurance (NHI). To employ NHI, health establishments in the country are compelled to comply with quality standards. The non-compliance with quality standards at primary health care (PHC) clinics within a district in Gauteng, which was verified by quality standards’ audit reports, prompted an intervention. No prior research aimed at facilitating managers’ compliance with quality standards has been conducted within the context under study. This research gap necessitated an exploration on how managers’ compliance to quality standards at PHC clinics within a district in Gauteng could best be facilitated. Objectives To describe recommendations to facilitate managers’ compliance with quality standards at PHC clinics within a district in Gauteng. Method A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design was used in this study. Semi-structured, individual interviews were conducted. Results The recommendations to facilitate managers’ compliance with quality standards at PHC clinics within a district in Gauteng were described. However, for the purpose of this article, only the recommendations seeking to address challenges with management practices as a reason for non-compliance with quality standards at PHC clinics will be discussed. These recommendations include involvement of PHC clinic managers in decision-making, adequate support from senior management and improvement of internal communication practices. Conclusion The researcher concludes that the senior management team in the district under study should strive to embrace the described recommendations as a strategy to facilitate managers’ compliance to quality standards at PHC clinics.

BackgroundRegular physical exercise is one of the lifestyle modification general measures to control the blood pressure (BP) of patients with hypertension. Globally, hypertension is considered a non-communicable disease (NCD), as well as a chronic condition of lifestyle, that contributes to the mortality rate caused by complications of cardiovascular burden of diseases. In South Africa, NCDs account for nearly 40% of adult deaths, with a high prevalence among black people in urban areas such as Soweto.The first step in treating hypertension is lifestyle modification, referred to in this study as health-promoting lifestyle change measures. Despite the positive benefits of regular physical exercise in controlling hypertension, in 2014, only 10% of men and 18% of women with hypertension had their BP controlled to a level that would eliminate the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) complications.ObjectivesThe aim of this article is to present the experiences of patients with hypertension regarding the facilitation of their own health-promoting lifestyle change measure of regular physical exercise.MethodA qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design was used. The accessible population of patients with hypertension at three primary health care (PHC) clinics in Soweto was targeted and purposefully sampled. Focus group and individual interviews were conducted to collect data till data saturation occurred. Tesch’s open-coding method of data analysis was used.Results and conclusionsFindings show that participants experienced poor self-care due to poor self-efficacy, demonstrated by not engaging in regular physical exercise, which in turn, resulted in uncontrolled BP and cardiovascular complications from hypertension. More should be done to educate, motivate and empower patients with the necessary knowledge, skills and the values in facilitating their own regular physical exercise in order to improve their own quality of health.

Compliance with quality standards in the Republic of South Africa (RSA) is key in the realisation of the National Health Insurance (NHI), through which the country’s citizens could benefit from universal health coverage and a unified health system. However, contrary to the imperative stated above, the researcher, as the manager for compliance with quality standards at primary health care (PHC) clinics in Ekurhuleni, has for over a period of two years observed a pattern of non-compliance with quality standards. This prompted an exploration on how compliance with quality standards at these health establishments could be facilitated. A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive, and contextual research design was used. In-depth semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with 12 managers at PHC clinics in Ekurhuleni. Data were analysed using Tesch’s protocol. The findings of this study revealed that PHC clinic managers in Ekurhuleni were faced with challenges in terms of management practices and the required health care resources, implying these as reasons for non-compliance with quality standards. Recommendations include allocating sufficient and appropriate human resources, providing adequate medical supplies and equipment, and increasing the budgets for PHC clinics in Ekurhuleni. These recommendations pertaining to the provision of adequate health care resources ought to be embraced by senior managers in Ekurhuleni as a strategy to facilitate compliance with quality standards at PHC clinics.