Khayelitsha Hospital’s nursing unit takes in first students

KHAYELITSHA Hospital’s nursing training unit welcomed its first group of students this week.

Second-year nursing students from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) are the first to be trained at the hospital since it was officially opened in 2012.

It was accredited by the South African Nursing Council two years later after the hospital met the criteria for student clinical placement. However, Khayelitsha Hospital decided not to place students until all its services and facilities were fully operational. Once completed, the placement of undergraduate students from CPUT and the Western Cape College of Nursing started.

“The students will rotate in various departments such as surgical units, medical units, obstetric units, trauma and emergency and the theatre department within the hospital – thus obtaining the relevant clinical/practical experience pertaining to their level of training and learning outcomes,” said provincial health department spokesperson Sithembiso Magubane.

The process of student placements would be ongoing, he said, and he hoped the advantages of in-service experience would be beneficial to them in the future.

The hospital would strive to mould students into qualified health-care professionals, who will be trained in every aspect of health care, he said.

Accreditation was a long process, he said. “The hospital takes pride in this achievement and being able to positively contribute in manufacturing students to qualified health-care professionals.”

THE STUDENTS WILL ROTATE IN VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS SUCH AS SURGICAL UNITS, MEDICAL UNITS