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Item Open Access Expected clinical competence from midwifery graduates during community service placement in Limpopo province, South Africa(AOSIS, 2018-11-29) Netshisaulu, Khathutshelo G.; Maputle, Maria S.Background: Community service nurses are placed in a hospital within the first year after qualifying to obtain clinical experience under the supervision of experienced professional nurses. When placed in clinical environments, new midwifery graduates are expected to be job ready, demonstrate competence in the provision of evidence-based care, practise independently and assume accountability and responsibility for their own actions. Aim: The study aimed at exploring the expectations of experienced midwives of clinical competence of newly graduated midwives during transition. Setting: The study was conducted at the training hospitals of the five districts in Limpopo province. Method: The researcher used a qualitative approach which is explorative and descriptive in nature. The population comprised all the professional midwives with experience of 5 years and above working at the selected hospitals in Vhembe, Mopani, Capricorn, Waterberg and Sekhukhune districts of Limpopo province, South Africa. From each selected hospital, five experienced midwives were selected using non-probability, purposive sampling method. An in-depth individual face-to-face interview was used to collect data from the participants, until saturation was reached. The open-coding, Tesch’s eight-step process was used to analyse data. Results: Results revealed that newly graduated midwives failed to meet the perceived expectations by experienced midwives; this was reflected in sub-themes: limited sense of independence, limited participation in task sharing and commitment and competence versus incompetence to patient care. Conclusion: The experienced midwives expected newly graduated midwives to function as professionals; unfortunately, they expressed disappointment as graduates did not meet their expectations. Newly graduated midwives lacked sense of independence, commitment to patient care and did not display ability in task sharing.Item Open Access Utilization of Cervical Cancer Screening Services among Women in Vhembe District, South Africa: A Cross-Sectional Study(Bentham Open, 2018-10-16) Vhuromu, Elisa N.; Goon, Daniel T.; Maputle, Maria S.; Lebese, Rachel T.; Okafor, Benedine U.; Vhuromu, E. N., Goon, D. T., Maputle, M. S., Lebese, R. T. and Okafor, B. U. Utilization of Cervical Cancer Screening Services among Women in Vhembe District, South Africa: A Cross-Sectional Study. The Open Public Health Journal 2018; 11, 451-463. Available from : www.bethamopen.com/TOPHJ/ [Doi: 10.2174/1874944501811010451]..Aim: Screening for early detection and treatment of cervical cancer is a cornerstone of prevention. The purpose of this study was to assess the awareness in women about the utilization of cervical cancer screening services in Vhembe District, South Africa. Methods: This cross-sectional study involved a random selection of 500 women aged 20-59 years in Vhembe District, Limpopo Province, South Africa. Data was collected via a self-structured questionnaire on the demographic variables, provision, utilization and awareness of cervical cancer screening services. Results: The majority of the participants agreed to have cervical cancer screening services in their clinics (79.2%), and never had a Pap smear (58.6%). Most women would not go for cervical cancer screening, mainly because of a lack of facilities (30.0%), fear of pain (24.4%), and embarrassment (15.2%). Most participants indicated that Pap smear test meant scraping the cervix to detect abnormal cancerous cells (39.2%) and 34.2% did not know a Pap smear. Majority of the participants indicated Pap smears should be done every 10 years (65.8%); Pap smears could detect cervical cancer earlier (66.8%), and had heard about cervical cancer (71.6%). The majority of the participants considered cervical cancer as a serious problem to warrant considerable attention (59.4%); and some perceived cervical cancer as transmittable through multiple sexual partners (22.2%). The majority of the participants were aware of a vaccine against cervical cancer for girls at school (69.0%), and it was indicated that government should use health education to encourage women to attend cervical screening services (51.6%). Conclusion: Despite the free availability of cervical cancer screening services and awareness, the utilization of cervical cancer screening services is low. There is a need to intensify cervical screening health talks and campaigns, and to provide alternative accessible options for screening services for women in rural areas.Item Open Access Experiences of auxiliary nurses who trained through the poverty alleviation programme regarding nursing profession in Vhembe District, Limpopo Province(2016-02-01) Baloyi, Nomsa Florence; Nemathaga, L. H.; Maputle, M. S.