A profile of the registered nurse tutor in the RSA

The purpose of this study was to explore and describe selected demographical, biographical, educational and professional background characteristics of the registered nurse tutors in the RSA and to construct a profile of the characteristics. Such a profile could provide a baseline for future studies and evaluation concerning registered nurse tutors. Data were collected from a random proportional stratified sample of 233 registered nurse tutors from a total of 1312 registered tutors whose names appeared on the SANC register. A questionnaire developed by the researcher and based on and adopted from a questionnaire from the Research Triangle Institute USA on the registered nurse in the USA, was used for data collection. The data were analysed and from the findings a profile of the registered nurse tutor in the RSA was constructed

The term preceptor: its interpretation in South African nursing colleges and international nursing literature

The purpose o f this study was two-fold, namely: I) to obtain clarity on the meaning o f the term preceptor, and 2) to establish how the term preceptor is interpreted in the nursing colleges o f the RSA and to ascertain whether this interpretation is consistent with the general connotation o f the term in contemporary nursing literature. Dictionaries and relevant contemporary nursing literature formed the unit o f analysis fo r obtaining clarity on the meaning o f the term preceptor, while the unit o f analysis fo r the second section o f the study comprised responses o f nursing college principals to a questionnaire. The data obtained in the investigation indicate that the term has acquired a specific connotation within the international nursing context and that specific defined attributes distinguishes it from the broad and general definition found in standard dictionaries. Within the South African nursing context the term preceptor has not yet acquired a specific connotation, but appears to mean different things to different people