Bachelor of Nursing in Education and Administration

Purpose: The purpose of this qualification is to provide health care services with nurse managers who are instrumental in managing both human and material health care resources (Nationally and Internationally). The qualification also provides health care services with nurse educators who are instrumental in producing nurses who are clinically competent to care for the healthy or ill individuals in terms of basic needs throughout the lifespan.

Rationale: This qualification will enable the learner to function as a nurse educator and nurse administrator who is able to produce nurses who are clinically focused, service-oriented, independent registered professional nurse, midwife, community Health Nurse and Psychiatric nurses and a nurse manager who is able to administer a nursing service in a variety of health care contexts, as determined by the appropriate legislative framework.

On successful completion of this qualification, the learner will be eligible for registration with the South African Nursing Council as a Nurse Educator and Nurse Administrator according to the Nursing Act No. 50 of 1978. Reports on the status of nursing in the country indicate the following:

1. A growing gap between the demand and supply of professional nurses and midwives,
2. The decline in students entering the nursing profession,
3. The ageing population of professional nurses.

The decline of learners has been a matter of great concern to the South African Nursing Council and the Ministry of Health. The nursing shortage has been well documented since 1948. The learner will be comprehensively qualified with a scope that includes nursing education and nursing administration skills. Qualified learner with this qualification will work with all nursing students and within all nursing services and take responsibility for education of nursing students and health care delivery in any context including community health, curative and acute care settings. Also, he/she will take responsibility for managing nursing care in a nursing service within a health care facility. The qualification will provide him/her with a comprehensive view of the field of nursing education and nursing administration. Graduate nurse educators and nurse administrators will initiate quality measures and work towards quality improvement, therefore taking full responsibility for all nursing and midwifery education and practice. After having developed their practical skills, nurse educators will act as tutors/nurse educators, typically deployed as nurse educators in a nursing school or college or a nurse administrator in a variety of health care facilities. They are both the providers and managers of health care and educators of nurses; there is an active teaching and learning and coordination role for care provided by other caregivers. Nurse educators and nurse administrators will be able to develop the capacity of other team members. The qualification, while solidly grounded in practice, is intended to provide access to further academic routes and provides for high-quality learning opportunities with a focus on specialisation.