Motari Omariba

The Glasgow Coma Scale is a tool used to aid in objectively measuring the neurological status of a patient. The objectives of the study were to (i) examine the relationship of the demographics of the nurses and their knowledge of the Glasgow Coma Scale; (ii) find out about exposure of the nurses to the Glasgow Coma Scale; and (iii) assess their knowledge of Glasgow Coma Scale. The study was conducted in Masaba North Sub-County Hospital, Nyamira County, Kenya. The study population was all the nurses working in that hospital. The eligibility criteria were all nurses working during the data collection period and the exclusion criteria was all the nurses on study leave, maternity leave, and sick leave. The study design was cross-sectional using a quantitative approach to data collection. Data were collected using a structured self-administered questionnaire. The study concluded that: (i) there was low level of knowledge about Glasgow Coma Scale; and (ii) there was inappropriate application of basic theoretical knowledge to clinical scenarios. It is therefore recommended that: (i) the length and depth of both the teaching of the theoretical concepts and the skill of performing Glasgow Coma Scale assessment be reviewed by nursing schools for basic and post-basic educational programmes for nursing students with the view of adapting more comprehensive in-depth teaching combined with demonstrations in classrooms and during clinical experiences in order to enhance nurses’ knowledge of the Tool; and (ii) implementation of regular refresher training sessions.

Students who are admitted within 68 Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) Campuses for various healthcare programs are highly qualified and they are chosen through a competitive admission criterion. However, their performance in college exams does not reflect the same. For instance, approximately 26% of students sat for supplementary exams in the year 2017. This performance trend implies that there may be challenges in the implementation of student-centered learning (SCL) approaches among the lecturers. Due to this, the researcher decided to conduct a research study on SCL challenges among lecturers. Cross-sectional descriptive study with researcher-administered questionnaires among 61 lecturers (both internal and external) was employed within KMTC-Campuses within South Nyanza Region namely; Nyamira, Kisii, Homa Bay, and Migori. The study adopted purposeful sampling to select KMTC-Campuses and saturated sampling of the participants. The finding concluded that although the ratio of students to lecturers (1:45) was within the recommended standards, the level of awareness and practice of SCL by the lecturers was low within the KMTC-Campuses. The study indicated that lecturers had little involvement to enhance SCL activities within their various campuses even though their instructional design has an impact on SCL especially on new approaches to tasks, activities and classroom discourse. The study concluded that the inadequacy of SCL resources affects its effective implementation. The researchers recommend that further studies be done on the exposure of students to various participatory learning methodologies and the provision of SCL resources.