A profile of professional nursing practice in the private sector in the R.S.A.

A bs tract The purpose o f this study was to develop a profile o f professional nursing practice in private enterprise health care services in the Republic o f South Africa. In the light o f the fu ture health care needs and the relationship between the private and public sector health care establishments, information about the role and task o f the I professional nurse was needed. * Information would provide a data base about the registered nurse and so facilitate fu tu re health care planning. A n exploratory fie ld study was undertaken to locate the various work environments o f the registered nurse in fo u r statistical urban regions. Questionnaires were handed out and collected fro m a proportional stratified sample o f professional nurses who were working in thirteen types o f health care environments in the period between I June 1983 and 30 September 1983. A return rate o f 68 percent yielded 340 completed questionnaires fro m 501 registered nurses. The study revealed that the majority o f nurses in the private sector were relatively young. White, female, English-speaking professionals who were practising in fo u r broad areas o f health care: I • Custodial care environments such as " residential homes fo r the aged, institutions fo r the chronic sick and fra il aged, homes fo r children and homes fo r the adult handicapped. • Hospitals and related special health centres catering fo r drug addicts, alcoholics and patients suffering fro m psychiatric!nervous disorders. • Institutions fo r child and adult education which included creches! nursery schools, primary and secondary hoarding schools, special schools fo r the handicapped, and university based student health centres. • Medical and dental consulting room practices. • Other entrepreneurial employment settings such as business and industrial occupational health care services, nursing service agencies, and mobile emergency care units.