Amalgamating colleges of nursing and midwifery: staff perceptions of issues and their importance

This research aimed to identify the issues considered important by primary stakeholders in the amalgamation of two college of nursing and midwifery and to explore differences in issue perceptions between stakeholder groups. The purpose was to provide data which would facilitate the amalgamation process. The research was carried out in two stages, the first of which was issue identification, whereby a qualitative approach to exploration was employed. This was followed by the stage of issue validation, carried out using a quantitatively oriented questionnaire. Stage 1 identified 38 specific issues relating to 13 separate issue topics. These could be further categorized into structural, teaching/learning/curricular and affective themes. Stage 2 demonstrated that these 38 issues were all considered important by all staff groups, but highlighted important, significant differences in the perceptions of how well these issues were perceived to be addressed.