Cross-sectional description of nursing and midwifery pre-service education accreditation in east, central, and southern Africa in 2013

Abstract

BackgroundIn 2013, the World Health Organization issued guidelines, Transforming and Scaling Up Health Professional Education and Training, to improve the quality and relevance of health professional pre-service education. Central to these guidelines was establishing and strengthening education accreditation systems. To establish what current accreditation systems were for nursing and midwifery education and highlight areas for strengthening these systems, a study was undertaken to document the pre-service accreditation policies, approaches, and practices in 16 African countries relative to the 2013 WHO guidelines.MethodsThis study utilized a cross-sectional group survey with a standardized questionnaire administered to a convenience sample of approximately 70 nursing and midwifery leaders from 16 countries in east, central, and southern Africa. Each national delegation completed one survey together, representing the responses for their country.ResultsAlmost all countries in this study (15; 94%) mandated pre-service nursing education accreditation However, there was wide variation in who was responsible for accrediting programs. The percent of active programs accredited decreased by program level from 80% for doctorate programs to 62% for masters nursing to 50% for degree nursing to 35% for diploma nursing programs. The majority of countries indicated that accreditation processes were transparent (i.e., included stakeholder engagement (81%), self-assessment (100%), evaluation feedback (94%), and public disclosure (63%)) and that the processes were evaluated on a routine basis (69%). Over half of the countries (nine; 56%) reported limited financial resources as a barrier to increasing accreditation activities, and seven countries (44%) noted limited materials and technical expertise.ConclusionIn line with the 2013 WHO guidelines, there was a strong legal mandate for nursing education accreditation as compared to the global average of 50%. Accreditation levels were low in the programs that produce the majority of the nurses in this region and were higher in public programs than non-public programs. WHO guidelines for transparency and routine review were met more so than standards-based and independent accreditation processes. The new global strategy, Workforce 2030, has renewed the focus on accreditation and provides an opportunity to strengthen pre-service accreditation and ensure the production of a qualified and relevant nursing workforce.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12960-017-0224-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Development of a context specific accreditation assessment tool for affirming quality midwifery education in Bangladesh

“…The components also include well-trained teachers and a standardized curriculum supported by policy makers. Although accreditation, educational programmes and degree levels vary across countries (McCarthy et al, 2017), this paper focuses on the importance of development and implementation of a context-specific accreditation tool for midwifery education in Bangladesh.…”

“…According to McCarthy et al (2017), the process of accrediting midwifery education varies across countries, from self-assessment, to use of external inspectors, to use of an independent board to make accreditation decisions and/or provide feedback and recommendations to programmes. Within the climate of building a midwifery profession in Bangladesh (Bogren et al, 2015), and with country-specific knowledge gained through this process, it is recommended that Bangladesh Nursing and Midwifery Council should take the lead to commence the accreditation assessment.…”

“…This regulatory mechanism aims to align midwifery education with current reproductive health needs to enable a midwifery workforce providing a high standard of care (Frenk et al, 2010). However, the proportion of accreditation varies across countries and midwifery programmes (Homer et al, 2017;McCarthy et al, 2017). This is the case in South Asia (Smith et al, 2008), particularly Bangladesh.…”

Implementation of a context-specific accreditation assessment tool for affirming quality midwifery education in Bangladesh: a qualitative research study

“…Once accredited by the relevant government agency, educational institutions can then exercise their power both to award degrees and to license and certify graduates for professional practice [11]. Given that fewer than half of all countries worldwide have an accreditation system in place for midwifery education [12,13], it will be difficult for any to argue that they offer quality education unless the educational programmes and institutions are accredited. As such, in 2017, the Bangladesh Government developed an accreditation assessment tool that involved local engagement.…”

Adaptation of the Training Resource Package to Strengthen Preservice Family Planning Training for Nurses and Midwives in Tanzania and Uganda

“…For example, a 2013 survey of 70 nursing and midwifery professionals across East, Central, and Southern Africa revealed that many of the nursing and midwifery schools in these countries have limited materials and technical expertise. 5 As one 2014 study of 35 preservice schools in Tanzania concluded, “Pre-service FP [family planning] teaching in Tanzania is theoretical, poorly guided, and skewed toward short-acting methods; a majority of the schools are unable to produce competent FP service providers.” 6 …”