Professional nurses’ experiences of caring for patients in public health clinics in Ekurhuleni, South Africa

Abstract

Background Caring for patients is the core aspect of nursing and a cornerstone of all nursing duties. Although caring is seen as a critical component of nursing delivery and an essential characteristic of nursing, there seems to be a gap between theory and practice. Aim The aim of this article was to explore and describe the experiences of caring for patients by professional nurses in public health clinics in Ekurhuleni. Setting The study was conducted in Ekurhuleni, an area east of the Gauteng Province in two public health clinics. Methods A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive phenomenological and contextual research design was used. In-depth, individual phenomenological interviews were conducted with eight purposefully sampled professional nurses to explore their experiences of caring for patients in public health clinics in Ekurhuleni. Data were analysed using Giorgi’s coding method. Results Two themes were revealed in the study findings. The first theme was the experienced empowering aspects of caring while the second theme was the experienced disempowering aspects of caring. The experienced empowering aspects of caring had two categories: empowering interpersonal experiences and the empowering experiences through client affirmation. These were identified by the participants as enabling effective caring for patients. The experienced disempowering aspects of caring also had two categories: disempowering interpersonal experiences and the disempowering experiences resulting from public health clinic system challenges. The disempowering aspects were identified by participants as disenabling effective caring for patients. Conclusion The study findings reveal that the professional nurses had empowering and disempowering experiences while caring for patients in the public health clinics.

Perceptions of strategies to facilitate caring for patients in primary health care clinics

“…Various studies on experiences of professional nurses in PHC clinical settings were also conducted in different parts of the world, and findings similar to a research study conducted by Nesengani 7 were reported. In a research study entitled ‘Primary health care: The experiences of nurses’ conducted in Chile, Garcίa-Vera et al 8 reported that even though the professional nurses were grateful of their work, they had negative experiences.…”

“…2 To ensure caring in nursing, the caring actions should help patients feel better, whilst the absence of caring would affect patients psychologically, emotionally and physically. 2 , 3 In South Africa, clinics have become the cornerstone of the public health system. In this regard, it is necessary and expected that clinics provide comprehensive and integrated basic health programmes, with members of the public being treated with care, respect and compassion by all healthcare professionals.…”

“…In a qualitative research study by Nesengani, 7 eight in-depth individual phenomenological interviews were conducted with eight purposively selected PHC professional nurses regarding their experiences of caring for patients in PHC clinics. The findings of this study reflected three themes: empowering experiences in caring for patients, disempowering experiences of caring for patients and the negative experiences with the PHC clinic systems.…”

“…Lastly, negative experiences with PHC clinic systems included shortage of resources, referring to shortage of medicines; functional medical equipment and PHC professional nurses; high workload of PHC professional nurses; low salaries; no rewards and high resignations by PHC professional nurses; and unavailable ambulances. 7 …”

“…Based on the findings of the qualitative research study by Nesengani, 7 the researcher developed and implemented strategies to facilitate effective caring for patients in PHC clinics in Ekurhuleni, which was Phase 1 of the study. After the implementation of the developed strategies for a period of 12 months in some PHC clinics, improvement was observed in the delivery of healthcare services by PHC professional nurses through showing of commitment, respect and willingness to help those patients in need.…”