Student nurses in West Malaysia - a case -study
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Date
1976-10
Authors
Kim Lean, Cheah
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Abstract
This is a study of nurses in Penang General Hospital and
its related School of Nursing. It provides a comprehensive picture
of bow nurses in West Malaysia are recruited, then trained and
socialized into the nursing profession. The kinds of problems that
are faced by the nurses, the development and changes that have taken
place in the profession and the formal structure of the nursing profession
are examined.
Data were obtained 1) while observing the students in the
school of nursing, 2) while observing nurses at work in the hospital
and at leisure in the hostels, 3) through participating in selected
of the non-professional activities of nurses, 4) through the use of
intensive interviewing and questionnaire··techniques, and 5) through
the examination of.school records, official documents and various
periodicals. Approximately six months were spent·in the field with
the nurses while obtaining data.
The changing profile of the nursing profession in Malaysia,
(particularly evident since 1970) is related to the changes occurring
in the ethnic composition and the socio-economic backgrounds of the
nursing recruits, changes in the medium of instruction in the school
and changes in the academic qualifications required of nursing recruits.
These changes reflect the political and social trends occurring in
the country, and the direction of change is towards an increase in
the participation of Malays and rural individuals in the profession.
This is in line with the government's attempt to create a more effective
balance in ethnic and regional representation in nursing in
Malaysia.
Another change occurring involves the expansion of nursing
training. In order to cater for the needs of increasing numbers of
patients -- as pati·ent attitudes and values towards modern medicine
change -- measures have been taken to overcome the shortage of nurses.
These include the introduction of "crash programs" and the shortening
of the training period from three years and four months to thr.ee years.
Simultaneously, a bursary system has been introduced to prevent students
from dropping out of training and to help guarantee that they will
serve the government after they qualify. Such changes have emerged
in response to the solution of specific prohlems yet they have also
created new sets of problems. These concern the lowering of standards
of nursing, communication problem between Malay-speaking student nurses
and English speaking doctors and senior nurses, and problems of dislocation
as rural recruits come to study in an urban environment.
A sequential process is involved in the socialization of
adults i~to an occupational role. The processes examined in this
thesis have to do with the initiation of recruits into the profession,
via the professional school, the changing of earlier attitudes
and preconceptions towards the profession as recruits are exposed
to the realities of professional work situations; the emergence
of' crises in relation to the professional trainees' role, her position
in the organization, her relationships with superiors and with patients;
and the learning and internalization of the cultural content, skills,
and behavioural patterns of the profession. As students pass through
the various stages of socialization they encounter problems that
relate to their backgrounds, the shortage of nursing staff, inade~uate
facilities, the authority system of the hospital and the unfavourable
attitudes of patients, and the public, towards nurses.
In general this study, provides relevant understandings
of nursing in the Malaysian context. So far no other studies of
this kind are available. The nursing training program in Malaysia
is geared towards developing abilities and shaping the attitudes of
nurses to cope with local needs. Nurses here are trained to be
general nurses so that they can handle rural health clinics on their
own and work in any ward in the district or general hospitals, in
any part of the country.
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Keywords
West Malaysia - a case -study