Factors impacting the selection of psychiatric hospitals for community service placement of nurses

Abstract

As a strategy to promote access to quality health services, including psychiatric nursing, compulsory community service for nurses was introduced in January 2008. Objective. To determine the factors impacting the KwaZulu-Natal College of Nursing (KZNCN) student nurses’ selection of psychiatric hospitals as their placement areas for community service. Methods- A quantitative, exploratory, descriptive research design was adopted. Convenience sampling was used to select 125 respondents from six campuses of KZNCN. An electronic 5-point Likert scale-based self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. SPSS version 26 (IBM Corp., USA) was used for data analysis. Results- The study found that the following factors impacted the selection of psychiatric hospitals for community service: insufficient time allocated for the practice of psychiatry during training; fear of exposure to threat; poor infrastructure and scarce facilities; and insufficient danger allowance. Conclusion- A positive practice environment should be created in psychiatric hospitals to attract student nurses and retain them in the psychiatric environment after community service.