Student nurse wastage: a case study of the profile and perceptions of students of an institution

Abstract

A case study was undertaken at a university school of nursing in South Africa in order to establish to what extent student nurse wastage at this school conformed to trends in schools offering the same 4-year basic nursing course. Further, the views of students were solicited about factors that precipitated student nurse attrition at this school, as well as means which, in their opinion, could curb wastage and retain students on this course. A total of 147 students who were currently pursuing the course, and all previous students of this school who answered the description of actually or potentially dropping out of the course, were the target population. A questionnaire was returned by 84% of this group. Findings showed that this institution was amongst those whose attrition rate was low, but it conformed to the trend of student attrition in other universities. Respondents' perceptions of this issue were divergent, and so were their recommendations.