THE Government has been urged to increase support towards the improvement of infrastructure at nurse training schools across the country, at a time competency-based education has seen a review of the nursing and midwifery curriculum, with a focus on improving the practical aspects of training.
Deputy Director of Nursing Services in the Ministry of Health and Child Care, Dr Lillian Gertrude Dodzo, made the call at a graduation ceremony of 104 general nursing and midwifery students at Bindura Hospital yesterday.
Dr Dodzo said the country had 22 midwifery training schools, 28 registered general nurse training centres and 18 primary care nurse training institutions, which all needed general upgrading in terms of facilities.
Some of the nurse training schools were using old infrastructure and lacked power backup as well as access to information, communication technologies.
She said the Nurses' Council was lobbying for the prioritisation of nurse training schools at Government level.
"Nurses and midwives are a critical link to achieving universal health coverage and without them, hospitals can be closed.
"We want nurses and midwives to be respected and recognised. When it comes to nurse training, we are having reduced training output and brain drain," she said.
"We are working towards increasing the training output and we would like to have as many tutors on board. We are hoping that the institutions are advocating the improvement of teaching staff establishment.
"Some of the establishments are old and we want them to be improved. We also have district training schools that don't have premises and are operating from borrowed establishments," said Dr Dodzo.
The Ministry of Health and Child Care had introduced e-learning for nurses and midwives with support from UNFPA. Dr Dodzo urged nurses to continue learning and specialise in various disciplines.
The Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Christopher Magomo said nurse training schools had made an impact on the health sector by producing skilled and competent healthcare professionals.
"Quality health care is a critical component of the achievement of Vision 2030. Skilled health personnel are essential for building a robust health care system," he said.
This 13th graduation ceremony at Bindura Hospital coincided with the International Day of the Nurse and the International Day of the Midwife, both celebrated in May.
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Senior tutor Mrs Jenifa Chikwadze reiterated that nursing was dynamic and urged nurses to continue learning.
She advised the graduates to attend workshops to keep up to date with new trends in the profession.
"More tutors and clinical instructors are needed to run the General Nursing and Midwifery programmes at Bindura School of Nursing.
"We lost two tutors to other hospitals because of low establishment. We have no electricity backup and no constant access to Wi-Fi for both the school educators and students," she said.
Seven tutors and three clinical instructors were running both general nursing and midwifery programmes.
Bindura School of Nursing opened its doors in 1986 as the second multi-disciplinary training school.
At its inception, the school offered training for State Certified Nurses, State Certified Maternity Nurses and Environmental Health Technicians.
"However, the programmes changed over the years and the school started offering a one-year upgrading course from state-certified maternity to state-certified midwife till 2005 when these two programmes were phased out," said Mrs Chikwadze.
"Three-year general nurse training programme started in 1997 to date. In 2011 the school started training midwifery students, a one-year programme till 2018 when a two-year midwifery programme was introduced in 2019.
"It only lasted for three years and the one-year programme resumed in 2022 to date."
Currently, the hospital has 83 students, 72 general nurse students and 11 midwifery students in training.
