FINDINGS ON THE SURVEY OF THE RECENTLY QUALIFIED ENROLLED NURSES AND ENROLLED NURSING AUXILIARIES

 

PURPOSE

To inform the nursing profession, employers both public and private, critical stakeholders, prospective nursing students and the South African community about the findings of the survey.

 

BACKGROUND

The Education and Training Department was mandated by Council at its meeting held in July 2015 to conduct a survey on recently qualified Enrolled Nurses and Enrolled Nursing Auxiliaries. This survey was conducted to establish if there is a high proliferation of Enrolled Nurses and Enrolled Nursing Auxiliary categories and also to establish their employability status in the public and private health care industry. The South African Nursing Council amongst other functions is tasked with reporting to the Health Minister every six months on the status of nursing (section4 (1) (p) (ii) through request for submission of employer returns by Nursing Education Institutions section 4(2) (k) and employers section 4(2) (I). It is however, not easy to access nurses in transition from training to employment. 

 

METHODOLOGY

A purposive sampling was used through accessing examination results of students who wrote in May & November2013 and passed as well as in May & November 2014 and passed. The Survey Monkey methodology was used and the questionnaires were sent through SMSes with a linkage through to a web-browser to access the attached questionnaires. The participants were to respond directly on their smart phones, desktops or laptops. SMSes were sent to 10 000 students that passed during the period under review. The participants were given six (6) weeks to respond and their participation was voluntary. There were 3 000 (30%) responses received within the six week period.

The questionnaires included:

•	Year qualification obtained
•	Institution’s name where qualification obtained
•	Cost of training per year
•	Did you do pre- nursing?
•	Province qualification obtained
•	Name of the current employer
•	Province currently employed
•	Date of employment after qualification
•	Full time employment
•	Temporary employment
•	Were recruited by employment agency? If yes, state the name of recruitment agency

 

ANALYSIS OF RESPONSES

It was done by Survey Monkey instruments and categorised according to:

•	Age group
•	Province where trained
•	Province of employment
•	Permanent employment
•	Temporary employment / Unemployment

 

RESULTS AND FINDINGS

AGE DISTRIBUTION IN ENROLLED NURSING AND ENROLLED NURSING AUXILLIARY CATEGORIES

AGE IN YEARS	PERMANENT	TEMPORARY	UNEMPLOYMENT
20-25	12,34%	17,86%	69,81%
26-30	9,50%	15,38%	75,11%
31-35	17,82%	16,31%	66,36%
36-40	21,10%	15,19%	63,71%
41-45	23,26%	16,28%	60,97%
46-50	32,76%	13,79%	53.45%
Average	16,65%	16,42%	63,93%

The results indicate that as age increases there is a decline in the unemployment and increase in permanent employment and decrease in the temporary employment. The study reflected that the younger generation is most affected with high unemployment rate .The average unemployment rate is higher than employment rate whether permanent or temporary.

PROVINCE WIDE RESULTS
ENROLLED NURSING AUXILIARY CATEGORY

PROVINCE	PERMANENT	TEMPORARY	UNEMPLOYED
GAUTENG	7,69%	17,95%	74,36%
KWAZULU –NATAL	6,12%	6,63%	87,36%
EASTERN CAPE	18,89%	17,78%	63,33%
MPUMALANGA	2,38%	4,76%	93,33%
NORTH WEST	22,45%	4,08%	73,47%
LIMPOPO	7,50%	5,00%	87,50%
WESTERN CAPE	32,30%	28,08%	44,62%
FREE STATE	10,50%	31,58%	57,89%
AVERAGE	10,77%	13,60%	75,63%

They survey indicated that unemployment is higher among Enrolled Nursing Auxiliaries than Enrolled Nurses and there is a high unemployment in the urban and semi urban provinces as compared to rural and underdeveloped provinces. The average statistics of unemployment indicated that urban and semi urban provinces are mostly affected

 

ENROLLED NURSING CATEGORY

PROVINCE	PERMANENT	TEMPORARY	UNEMPLOYED
GAUTENG	35,52%	22,07%	42,41%
KWAZULU –NATAL	10,44%	16,16%	73,40%
EASTERN CAPE	13,00%	19,00%	68,00%
MPUMALANGA	62,50%	25,00%	12,50%
NORTH WEST	62,50%	00,00%	37,50%
LIMPOPO	41,60%	8,33%	50,00%
WESTERN CAPE	45,45%	33,33%	21,21%
FREE STATE	31,25%	37,50%	31,25%
AVERAGE	23,30%	19,61%	57,09%

The study revealed that there is a slight improvement in the employability of Enrolled Nurses in all provinces but higher in the rural provinces on permanent basis as compared to the urban provinces. The study did reveal though that employment on average is above 55%, with an average of permanent employment at 23%.

 

APPOINTMENT BY NURSING AGENCIES

CATEGORY	YEAR	PERMANENT	TEMPORARY
ENA	2013	24%	13,64%
	2014	12%	9,36%
AVERAGE		1,52%	10,34%
EN	2013	4,64%	5,30%
	2014	2,73%	4,70%
AVERAGE		3,08%	14,80%

The survey revealed that Nursing Agencies are able to secure employment for both categories higher on temporary basis than permanent basis. The Enrolled Nurses’ categories on average benefited from Nursing Agencies than Enrolled Nursing Auxiliaries categories, however, there was a significant decline between 2013 and 2014 in recruiting both categories for either permanent or temporary employment.

 

PRODUCTION OF ENROLLED NURSES AND ENROLLED NURSING AUXILIARIES CATEGORIES

CATEGORY	NEI	PERMANENT	TEMPORARY	UNEMPLOYED
ENA	PUBLIC NEI	19,09%	14,00%	70,09%
	PRIVATE NEI	9,64%	14,09%	76,27%
AVERAGE		10,77%	13,60%	75,63%
EN	PUBLIC NEI	44,76%	13,29%	41,96%
	PRIVATE NEI	18,71%	20,96%	60,33%
AVERAGE		23,30%	19,61%	57,09%

The survey reflect that both Enrolled Nurses and Enrolled Nursing Auxiliaries categories who trained in public NEI’s are employable better than those trained in private NEI’s, but the average unemployability is higher for Enrolled Nursing Auxiliaries categories irrespective where they have undergone training.

 

CONCLUSION

It is evident that there is a need to use these findings as a baseline to identify if there is a need to train these categories under new nursing qualifications especially Auxiliary Nurse category under R.169. It is also evident that prospective NEI’s which intend applying to offer such a programme to be guided by referring them to this survey.