Monday, November 30, 2009

Where are Kenyan cohort members working?

Hi I hope you have been well. It has been three months since our first follow up and most of you have settled in your new places of work. During our second calls, we were curious to know where people preferred to work; take a look at our results to find out where most of your classmates are working, you get to see who has the taller bar, or the bigger piece of the pie!
1. Most of the participants interviewed were working in towns; with the numbers slightly different among the pre-service and distance learners, as shown below:

a) For the pre-service participants, distribution among the MTCs was as follows:



b) For the distance learners, distribution among the MTCs was as follows:




2. The pie chart below is a representation of the distribution of all the working nurses




Close to quarter of Kenyan cohort members have visited the blog and most were eager to leave messages.
During the second round of calls, most of the participants wished their counterparts all the best in life, as they reach out to achieve their dreams. They encouraged former classmates to continue working hard in the nursing profession; to keep participating in the research and to keep in touch.

Those who were already working gave a challenge to those looking for jobs to explore all opportunities available to registered nurses; those with the opportunity to further their studies were encouraged to specialize and gain more exposure and experience. Participants encouraged former classmates to let each other know of any job opportunities

Some of the unique comments included:
• Keep working for excellence, give quality care to your patients and bring out innovative ways of improving the nursing profession, James-Nairobi.
• When we were in school, we had varied opinions about working outside Nairobi but I have come to realize that outside Nairobi, you get more exposure and are able to practice and gain more experience, than in Nairobi where you are all crowded and ignored, Margaret-Kirinyaga.
• Working as a nurse in the rural area is quite interesting and challenging, as opposed to working in a hospital, where you are only giving the medication that the doctor has prescribed; in the field we get to interact with the patients in their daily environment, Jacinta-Kakamega.

Keep checking this website for more updates, and the upcoming re-union plans. You do not want to miss out!