INEPEA: Improving Nurse Education and Practice in East Africa

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INEPEA Improving Nurse Education and Practice in
East Africa

• Our partnership also includes Ministries of
  Health and Nursing Councils of our Three Countries

University of Iowa College of Public Health
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Sustainable Development

• Aim To meet the needs of the present generation
  without compromising the ability of future
  generations to meet their own needs
• Stresses the need for intra-generational equity
• A means of configuring civilisation and human
  activity so that society and its members
• Meet their needs
• Express their greatest potential
• While preserving their biodiversity

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Core Roles of Universities

• Universities well placed in to engage in the
  scholarship of sustainability
• Make valuable contributions enhancing progress
  towards sustainability through
• Teaching and learning
• Research and knowledge generation, and
• Community engagement establishing partnerships
  between the university and its (regional)
  community
• Thus universities can make significant
  contributions towards sustainable development in
  their regions

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Benefits that flow to the community

• Productive research outcomes
• Regional economic growth
• Linking the community and the world (boosting
  local/global connectivity)
• Social capital and community capacity development
• Human capital development, etc

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Universities and their contributions to enhancing
regional sustainability

• Through best practice in sustainability be
  economically self-sufficient and able to afford
  sustainable practices
• Through partnerships e.g. partnership with
  private and public universities
• Through sustainability research with impact on
  communities
• Problem-driven, applied, multi-disciplinary,
  partnership-based in which collaboration is
  established from the outset

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INEPEA What and Why

• What we aim to achieve together
• To develop and deliver a common EA curriculum for
  nurse education from BScN to MScN
• A modular programme using blended learning
• Supporting advance nursing and midwifery
  practice, management and education roles we
  call this ANP
• Why we need this
• With one doctor per 50-80,000 people in rural
  areas
• Nurses already lead services, but with little
  recognition
• Lack of career opportunities drives migration
• ICT opens new opportunities for nurse led services

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INEPEA Main Objective

• To improve health status by reducing avoidable
  morbidity and mortality and improving health
  equity by strengthening health systems and
  reducing the Know-Do Gap (failure to apply
  knowledge to action)

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INEPEA How

• Our work programme
• Develop our partnership sharing goals and work
  plans
• Design a capability framework for ANP in East
  Africa
• Plan how we can deliver the MSc program using ICT
• Address scope and scheme of service issues
• Design the modular programme
• Design the education/ assessment modules
• Our methods of working together
• We have established communities of practice (CoP)
• We use internet conferencing and work-share
• Facilities provided by WHO and University of Iowa

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INEPEA the MDG Challenges

• Development of Advanced Nursing Practice and
  Management and Education roles is key to
• Gender equity in health women as leaders
• Reducing child mortality developing MCH
• Improving maternal health Midwifery leadership
• Combating HIV/AIDS, Malaria, TB Nurse led
  services
• Global partnership to build HE capacity using
  ICT
• Nurse led services also provide
• Access to health knowledge nutrition and safe
  water
• Community development for health and education
• Mental health care sadly lacking from MDGs

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INEPEA Sustainability and Quality

• Africa has 24 of the global burden of disease
• But only 3 of the global health workforce
• Health is essential to economic development
• Human resources for health are critical to
  sustainability
• Capacity to educate and lead health workers even
  more so
• INEPEA aims to improve quality and efficiency
• We each wanted to develop an MScN
• Our private/public partnership uses our strengths
• And brings international resources to help
• We have expertise in distance learning and are
  now
• Building capacity for efficient, high quality
  blended learning

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INEPEA Lifelong learning

• INEPEA is focussed on continuing education and
• Will be modular and allow workplace development
• Will recognise and accredit existing courses if
  possible
• ANPs with MScN will be focal points for knowledge
• Showing best practice and leading innovation
• Leading a community of practice in their
  specialist field
• Providing access to international knowledge
  resources

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INEPEA Ownership/ Brain Drain

• INEPEA is owned by our Universities
• And by our Ministries of Health
• And by Our Nursing Councils
• All are involved and contributing to the program
• It is clear that there is a market for MScN
• Existing courses of lower quality are
  oversubscribed
• We wanted to develop such a course
• Lack of continuing nurse education
• Causes migration, leads to dissatisfaction
• And lack of professional recognition

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Ownership Country Visit

• Well, as you might recall, the Uganda Ministry
  of Public service is undertaking a review of
  schemes of service for specific cadres of
  public servants including nurses. Two of us in
  the Department of Nursing were co-opted into the
  committee working on the scheme of service for
  all nursing cadres. To us, this is long awaited
  and great opportunity to integrate BScN graduates
  into the public service, and also thinking of
  what we are doing as INEPEA. It is also a time to
  prepare the public service system to absorb
   ANP. Right now we are embarking on identifying
  the roles of the various cadres of nurses which
  will appear in their job descriptions. INEPEA
  Manager Makerere University, Uganda

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INEPEA Further Development

• INEPEA provides a model for capacity building
• Joint work across East African Universities
• A common curriculum for Continuing nurse
  education
• Educating for Africas needs to international
  standards
• Building HEI capacity and reach using blended
  learning
• Potential for further development in relation to
• Public health professionals
• Clinical officers/ medical assistants
• Health educators
• And many other fields beyond medicine

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INEPEA Lessons for EDULINK

• EDULINK can change the agenda for HEIs
• From unsystematic short training courses
• Provided by international experts and
• Overseas training courses unrelated to ACP needs
• To a focus on sustainable capacity development
• Partnership across ACP and international HEIs
• Focussed on ACP needs and ACP delivery
• A modular, affordable approach to lifelong
  learning
• Using the potential of ICT to develop and deliver
• Education of the highest international standard

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INEPEA Thanks to EDULINK