摘要：Background: There is global emphasis on transforming health workforce education in support of universal health coverage.Objective: This paper uses a social accountability framework, specifically the World Health Organization’s six building blocks for transformative education, to explore key informants’ perspectives on nursing education in South Africa.Methods: Using a snowballing sampling technique, 44 key informants were selected purposively on the basis of their expertise or knowledge of the research area. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the key informants after informed consent had been obtained. The interviews were analysed using template analysis.Results: South Africa has strategic plans on human resources for health and nursing education, training, and practice and has a well-established system of regulation and accreditation of nursing education through the South African Nursing Council (SANC). Key informants criticised the following: the lack of national staffing norms; sub-optimal governance by both the SANC and the Department of Health; outdated curricula that are unresponsive to population and health system needs; lack of preparedness of nurse educators; and the unsuitability of the majority of nursing students. These problems are exacerbated by a perceived lack of prioritisation of nursing, resource constraints in both the nursing education institutions and the health training facilities, and general implementation inertia.Conclusion: Social accountability, which is an essential component of transformative education, necessitates that attention be paid to the issues of governance, responsive curricula, educator preparedness, and appropriate student recruitment and selection.Keywords: nursing education; social accountability; nurses; transformative education; South Africa(Published: 11 May 2015)Citation: Glob Health Action 2015, 8: 27879 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/gha.v8.27879SPECIAL ISSUE: This paper is part of the Special Issue: Transforming Nursing in South Africa. More papers from this issue can be found at http://www.globalhealthaction.net
关键词：Health systems; education; health workforce;nursing education; social accountability; nurses; transformative education; South Africa;RA410-410.9
