Psychiatric Clinical Placement: Agony for College Nursing Students in South Africa

(1) Background: Clinical placements in psychiatric nursing science (PNS) are as important as other placements in any discipline in nursing education as they allow students to correlate theory to practice. Nursing students' absenteeism has become a grave concern in psychiatric institutions in South Africa. This study investigated the clinical factors leading to student nurses' absenteeism in the Limpopo College of Nursing during the psychiatric nursing science clinical placement. (2) Methods: A quantitative approach using a descriptive design was followed, where 206 students were purposively sampled. The study was conducted at the Limpopo College of Nursing situated in Limpopo Province, with five campuses offering a four-year nursing program. College campuses were used to access students since this was an easy way of accessing them. Data were collected through questionnaires of structured questions and analyzed using SPSS version 24. Ethical considerations were adhered to throughout. (3) Results: The correlation between clinical factors and absenteeism was determined. The main reported factors for absenteeism were student nurses being treated as a workforce in the clinical areas; shortage of staff in the clinical areas; inadequate supervision of student nurses by professional nurses; and being inconsiderate of student nurses requests for days off in the clinical area. (4) Conclusions: The findings revealed that student nurses' absenteeism is caused by different factors. The Department of Health should find a way of not overworking students due to a shortage of staff in the wards but consider them for experiential learning. A further qualitative study should be conducted to develop strategies to mitigate student nurses' absenteeism in psychiatric clinical placement.