Challenges Of Nursing Education Practice In Nigeria And The Way Forward – Prof Saleh H. Garba

Nursing practice in Nigeria is however faced with the several challenges These includes; Read Also: challenges Facing Nursing Profession In Nigeria

1. Inadequate training and retraining due to lack of basic equipment, manpower etc
2. Poor working environment including lack of equipment,
3. New technology in health care which forces changes in approach to care
4. lack of commitment to work and general professional practices
5. Resistance to change in the profession
6. Changing disease patterns as seen by the emergence of new diseases that require new approaches to care
7. Inter-professional intra-professional conflicts in the health sector
8. Leadership problem
9.   including lack of requisite qualifications of the educators and inability to key into approved national policy on education
10. Poor research culture among the nurses which prevents evidence based practice
11. Poor condition of services including lack of sponsorship for training and retraining, poor remuneration etc
12. Indiscipline in the health sector
13. There are increasing calls for litigations against nurses for negligence and unprofessional conduct
14. Interference in nursing affairs by members of other professions in the health sector etc

THE WAY FORWARD

1. There is increasing awareness and demand for academic qualifications for all professional nursing certificates
2. Thus, there are increasing calls for the stakeholders to move nursing education into the mainstream educational programmes of the country
3. More Universities are establishing departments of nursing for degree programme
4. Many nurses are already insisting that all nursing educational programmes must be College/University based
5. Already, there are many Nigerian universities offering the BNSc degree programmes including part-time programmes
6. More are already offering the MSc and PhD programmes in nursing
7. Many of the products of these nursing programmes will be in the clinical areas practicing nursing
8. Indeed the future of nursing education in Nigeria is the University /College
9. The plan to have educational qualifications for the basic and postbasic nursing certificates is being actualized

See This: The Role Of Students Nurse In Upgrade Of Nursing Practice In Nigeria

Activities to ensure that the plans are actualized and the challenges are addressed include;

• Sensitization and mobilization of all nurses to key into the reforms
• All nurses need to be adequately prepared for the new challenges including improving their educational status
• Nurse educators should be the agents of change by embracing the change and encouraging others to do so
• Adequate advocacy should be carried out by the NMCN, NANNM and other stakeholders to ensure that more Universities establish the BNSc and postgraduate nursing programmes
• There is need for the provision of more equipment in the hospitals for efficient nursing practice
• Nurses should be united in order to ensure that the proposed reform is logically executed so that the Nigeria nurses will be at par with their colleagues in most parts of the world as well as with other healthcare professionals

CONCLUSION

• From the above, it could be seen that the nursing profession has been witnessing progressive transformation over the years

• Though, the reforms have been very rapid in many countries, it has been rather slow in Nigeria in some aspects of the reforms

• Nursing education has been the main beneficiary of reforms in the profession

• Many countries have moved the training of nurses from hospital based schools to established academic colleges and universities

• In Nigeria, attempts to move the training of nurses away from hospital based schools to the University have faced many challenges including nurses’ resistance to change, intra-professional conflicts, lack of facilities, interference from members of other health professions and inadequate manpower for University based programmes

• Similarly, nursing practice is faced with similar challenges including industrial disharmony in the health sector

• Implementation of the reform agenda has commenced

• While the BNSc is being pursued, existing Schools of Nursing are being prepared to commence the award of HND certificates

• All postbasic nursing programme are being prepared to start awarding PGD or MSc in nursing

• Nurses are however becoming increasingly aware of the need to match professional qualifications with academics

• There is no doubt that tomorrow nurses will be better educated and better equipped to provide quality nursing care at all levels of health care

• Future nurses will have certificates that are at par with members of other health professions

• Thus, all nurses are expected to contribute towards making the reforms agenda a success

PPESENTED BY SALEH N. GARBA, RN, PhD, FWACNASSOCIATE PROFESSOR DEPARTMENT OF NURSING SCIENCES,FACULTY OF ALLIED HEALTH SCIENCES,BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANOBEING A PAPER PRESENTED DURING A MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIAN NURSES IN NIGERIA (ANNE) HELD AT THE NURSE’S HOUSE, KANO ON 8TH FEBRUARY, 2020