An exploration of how nurse education practices may influence nursing students’ perception of working in aged care as a registered nurse: A Foucauldian discourse analysis

Abstract
In Aotearoa New Zealand, fewer than two percent of graduating nurses identify aged care as a preferred employment option. Influences contributing to this statistic are multifactorial, ranging from societal norms and values, to health, education and economic policies. In this article, we argue that undergraduate nurse education is a contributor to this issue by constructing working in aged care as having lower status or less value than working in other health care areas. Foucauldian discourse analysis permitted us to examine this issue by exploring the dominant discourses being deployed in relation to clinical experience in aged care. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 10 senior academic staff members from Aotearoa New Zealand tertiary institutions. Interview data were analysed and revealed how a ‘nurse education discourse’ and a ‘work ready discourse’, were shaping perceptions of aged care as a clinical experience in a variety of ways. These two discourses constructed aged care either: as a convenient learning space for developing foundation skills, or as a learning space to access only when other more desirable spaces were unavailable. Aged care was also promoted as a place of employment for the less able nursing student on graduation. Findings suggest that how and why aged care is utilised as a space to learn a range of nursing skills has the unintended effect of devaluing and discouraging employment in aged care settings. This article argues there is a collective need to go beyond curricula and uncover what is actually conveyed through the educational process to students about working in aged care.

Ngā ariā matua
He iti iho i te rua ōrau o ngā tapuhi ka tohia i Aotearoa e tautohu ana i te taurima kaumātua hei ara whiwhinga mahi mō rātou. He maha ngā kawenga ngākau kei te pūtake o tēnei tauanga, tīmata mai i ngā ariā me ngā uara o te pāpori, tae noa ki ngā kaupapa here hauora, mātauranga, ōhanga anō hoki. I tēnei tuhinga, e kī ana mātou ko te akoranga tapuhi paetahi tētahi take mō tēnei āhuatanga, nā tāna tāpae whakaaro ko te mahi i te taurimatanga kaumātua tētahi mahi iti iho te mana, iti iho hoki te hua, i te mahi i ētahi atu wāhi mahi taurima hauora. Nā ngā tātaritanga kōrero Foucault mātou i āwhina kia tūhura i tēnei take, mā te tūhura i ngā kōrerorero matua e whakamahia ana mō ngā wheako tiaki tūroro i te ao taurima kaumātua. I kohia ngā raraunga mai i ētahi uiuinga āhua ōkawa nei ki ētahi mema mātāmua 10 mai i ngā whare whakaako mātauranga matua o Aotearoa. I tātaritia ngā raraunga uiuinga, ā, ka puta te māramatanga he pēhea ngā 'kōrero akoranga tapuhi' me ngā 'kōrero tū tika mō te mahi' i tārei ai i ngā whakaaro mō te taurima kaumātua hei wheako tiaki tūroro, arā, he maha ōna pānga. Nā enei kōrero e rua i whakaahua te taurima kaumātua kia pēnei, e ai rā ki te titiro: he wāhi ngāwari noa hei ako i ngā pūkenga taketake, he wāhi rānei e tika ana kia whāia i te paunga atu o ērā atu wāhi papai kē atu. I whakatairangatia hoki te taurima kaumātua hei wāhi mahi mō ngā tauira kāore i tino eke ki ngā taumata o ōna hoa i te tohinga. E ai ki ngā kitenga ko tētahi pānga kāore i hiahiatia o te whai i ngā mahi te taurima kaumātua hei wāhi ako i te huhua o ngā pūkenga ako, ko te whakahekenga i te mana o ēnei mahi, ko te pēhanga hoki i ngā hiahia o te tangata ki te mahi i ngā whare taurima kaumātua. Ki tā tēnei tuhinga e tika ana mō te katoa kia nuku ki tua i ngā marautanga, ki te huke i ngā waiaro e whāngaia ana mā roto i te hātepe whakaako ki ngā ākonga mō te mahi i te ao taurima kaumātua.

Keywords / Ngā kupu matua
aged care / te taurima kaumātua; discourse analysis / tātari kōrero; employment / whiwhinga mahi; new graduate / pia hou; nursing student / ākonga tapuhi; recruitment / rapu kaimahi