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Scaling up pediatric nurse specialist education in Ghana – a longitudinal, mixed methods evaluation.
- Source :
- BMC Nursing; 2/16/2021, Vol. 20 Issue 1, p1-12, 12p, 1 Diagram, 10 Charts
- Publication Year :
- 2021
-
Abstract
- Background: Inadequate health human resources is a key challenge to advancing child survival in Ghana. Nurses are an essential human resource to target because they represent the largest portion of the health workforce. Building on lessons learned from our pilot pediatric nurse training project and World Health Organization guidelines for transforming and scaling up health professional education, this project aimed to; train 500 pediatric nurse specialists through a one-year training program; develop and integrate a critical mass of pediatric nursing faculty and establish a national standardized pediatric nursing curriculum. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a national pediatric nurse training program in Ghana at the end of 4 years, including eight cohorts with 330 graduates. Methods: This was a mixed-method evaluation with surveys, focus groups and a pre-test/post-test design. Before and after surveys were used to measure knowledge and confidence at baseline and graduation. Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE) were used to measure clinical skills at baseline, graduation, and 14 months follow-up. At the end of every module, surveys were used to measure students' satisfaction. Focus groups at graduation qualitatively measured program outcomes. Repeat focus groups and surveys at 14 months after graduation captured the graduates' career progress, experiences reintegrating into the health system and long-term program outcomes. Results: Overall, the graduates completed the program with significantly increased knowledge, confidence, and clinical skills. They also had increased job satisfaction and were able to apply what they learned to their jobs, including leadership skills and gender-sensitive care. Data from 14-month follow-up OSCEs showed that all graduates remained competent in communication, physical assessment, and emergency care, although some obtained a lower mark compared to their performance at graduation. This finding is linked with the observation that the amount of mentorship, support from leadership and equipment that the graduates accessed from their respective facilities varied. Conclusions: Mixed-methods evaluations demonstrated significant increases in knowledge confidence and skills by completing the program and maintenance of skills more than 1 year after graduation. Findings have implications for those working on the design, implementation, and evaluation of nursing education interventions in low- and middle-income countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- PEDIATRIC nurses
ACHIEVEMENT tests
CLINICAL competence
COMMUNICATION
CONFIDENCE
EMERGENCY medical services
FOCUS groups
GRADUATE students
HEALTH occupations students
JOB satisfaction
LEADERSHIP
LONGITUDINAL method
RESEARCH methodology
NURSING assessment
NURSING students
PEDIATRIC nursing
QUESTIONNAIRES
RESEARCH funding
SATISFACTION
STUDENTS
STUDENT attitudes
GRADUATE nursing education
THEMATIC analysis
PRE-tests & post-tests
NATIONAL competency-based educational tests
EVALUATION of human services programs
DESCRIPTIVE statistics
MANN Whitney U Test
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 14726955
- Volume :
- 20
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- BMC Nursing
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 148753267
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-021-00550-1