GRADUATES’ EXPERIENCES OF THE BACHELOR OF NURSING SCIENCE PROGRAMME – 2003 – 2017

Abstract

Educational programmes must be periodically reviewed in order to determine whether or not they meet the expectations of the learners and those of the customers served by graduates. A survey was conducted between October 2017 and January 2018 aimed at evaluating the experiences of graduates of an undergraduate nursing programme at a public university in Botswana. The survey solicited data from participants who graduated during the period 2003 to 2017. Eighty-one (81) graduates, made up 42 (53.1%) females and 38 (46.4%) males, responded. The mean age was 31.7 years (SD=4.3). Participants reported positive experiences in most aspects of the programme, notably the nursing content covered and interaction with faculty. The main area of discontent was clinical learning; with both the duration of exposure and the supervision negatively appraised. Future surveys could go beyond curriculum content and objective responses to cover a broader platform with triangulated data collection methods.