The Executive secretary, National universities commison professor Julius Okojie OON, has urged the Nursing and midwifey council of Nigeria to conduct a needs assessment to determine the number of nurses required in the nations health care system to enable the council know how many nurses must be produced and avoid over producing nurses who would not be relevant.
Welcoming a delegation of the N&MCN, the executive secretary commended the N&MCN and said it was one of the most diligent professional bodies in the country and encouraged its members to keep up the good work.Prof Okojie also advised the council to review its journal for the purpose of upgrading it to meet international standards.
In his response, the chairman of the board of N&MCN, Alhaji Mustapha Jumare, thanked the executive secretary, for the cordial working relationship that existed between the NUC and the N&MCN, which hes said had assisted in guiding the council in taking decisions that bordered on the professional regualation of Nursing and midwifery education in the departments of nursing in nigeria universities.
The chairman highlighted some issues that needed to be addressed by the NUC on university based nursing educatioin.
The registrar of N&MCN Mrs Eunice Azuike said in her remarks that a laarge number of nurses had been admitted into the nursing program of the NOUN and that the BNSCc had not been implemented. She pleaded tht the NOUN should be assisted by the NUC to implement the program so that there would be no discrimination between graudates of the program and those of conventional universities and also to forestall the frustration of the nurses who chose this university because of its mode of education. She said that since the NUC had not accrediterd the program, the council could not conduct its accreditation.
Mrs Azuike said that the council was strongly advocating the consideration of an Abridged bachelor of nursing science degree program for registered nurses as was the practice globally, adding that the nursing education at the level of the hospital based schools of nursing was very rich in content, both theoretically and practically, and that there were many postbasic programs designed for nurses who had acquired the basic nursing education to further enhance their academic and professional knowledge, skills and competence in unique nursing specialties.
The registrar said that the nursing education in the hospital based schools of nursing in nigeria was bequeathed to nigeria by the british colonial masters inline with what was operational in Britain and that the system of nursing education had produced registered nurses who competed favourably with their counterparts all over the world.Mrs Azuike however, said the N&MCN wanted to know why registerd nurses had to spend up to four years in the university before they could acquire a certificate.
The registrar further said that only three departments of nursing in the nigeria university systerm offered post graduate programs in nurisng and that this number was grossly inadequate , adding however, that the council was aware that most universities were being careful due to lack of adequate manpower, particularly qualified academic staff.
Mrs Azuike also added that the council was willing to work with the NUC in order to evolve modalities that would assist in re-solving this perennial constraint of inadequate manpower through collaborations, linkages and networking. She recounted how the council in collaboration with the NUC had developed curricula on post basic diploma in nursing PGDN and post graduate diploma in nursing education PGDNE and that these had been incorporated into the NUC benchmark minimum acadmic standards (BMAS) for post graduate education in nigeria.
The registrar disclosed that the federal minister of health had approved the internship program for nurses but that the scheme was not captured in the curriculum of the BNSc degree program and appealed to NUC to fully incorporate it in the next review of the BNSc degree program.
Responding to some of the issues raised by the council, the director, office of the executive secretary, Dr Gidado Kumo said that the refusal by the NUC to allow students to graduate in the NOUN was due to the non compliance with the content of the curriculum, particulary in anatomy, physiology and biochemistry.
Dr kumo said that some of the council members who at that time were also students of NOUN argued that since they were practising nurses and were already indexed they did not need to offer those three courses, while the argument in NUC was that to acquire a B.Sc at least 12 credits of anatomy, physionlogy and biochemistry were required.
The director went on to say that NUC had no objection to the internship program, if the council felt it was necessary for its training. He however said the implication of this was the entry point for graduating nurses into the civil service must be reviewed, especially those joining the service for the first time, and that the issue was not solely dependeant on NUC alone.
He therefore urged them to go through the office of the head of service to ensure that the issue of entry requriement was addressed and then write back to the NUC so that it could be incorporated into the bench mark to enalbl students do the internship after this program.
The director of open and distance learning NUC Dr Suleiman Ramon yusuf said that the nursing program in the NOUN was faulty, poorly conceived , hurriedly executed and that it created a lot of problems in the university system. Dr Ramon yusuf said tht the bachelor of nursing science degree program of the national open university of nigeria and an abridged BNSc program for registered nurses were not accredited by the council. He added tht an update on the internship of nurses needed to be indicated in their curricullum as they were just implementing the program.
In a vote of thanks, a member of the delegation and council member, Mrs Adenike Olaogun, thanked the executive secretary, NUC for the opportunity to interact with them pledging that the council would work hand in hand with the NUC to make the nursing program better.
Source: Nursing world
Welcoming a delegation of the N&MCN, the executive secretary commended the N&MCN and said it was one of the most diligent professional bodies in the country and encouraged its members to keep up the good work.Prof Okojie also advised the council to review its journal for the purpose of upgrading it to meet international standards.
In his response, the chairman of the board of N&MCN, Alhaji Mustapha Jumare, thanked the executive secretary, for the cordial working relationship that existed between the NUC and the N&MCN, which hes said had assisted in guiding the council in taking decisions that bordered on the professional regualation of Nursing and midwifery education in the departments of nursing in nigeria universities.
The chairman highlighted some issues that needed to be addressed by the NUC on university based nursing educatioin.
The registrar of N&MCN Mrs Eunice Azuike said in her remarks that a laarge number of nurses had been admitted into the nursing program of the NOUN and that the BNSCc had not been implemented. She pleaded tht the NOUN should be assisted by the NUC to implement the program so that there would be no discrimination between graudates of the program and those of conventional universities and also to forestall the frustration of the nurses who chose this university because of its mode of education. She said that since the NUC had not accrediterd the program, the council could not conduct its accreditation.
Mrs Azuike said that the council was strongly advocating the consideration of an Abridged bachelor of nursing science degree program for registered nurses as was the practice globally, adding that the nursing education at the level of the hospital based schools of nursing was very rich in content, both theoretically and practically, and that there were many postbasic programs designed for nurses who had acquired the basic nursing education to further enhance their academic and professional knowledge, skills and competence in unique nursing specialties.
The registrar said that the nursing education in the hospital based schools of nursing in nigeria was bequeathed to nigeria by the british colonial masters inline with what was operational in Britain and that the system of nursing education had produced registered nurses who competed favourably with their counterparts all over the world.Mrs Azuike however, said the N&MCN wanted to know why registerd nurses had to spend up to four years in the university before they could acquire a certificate.
The registrar further said that only three departments of nursing in the nigeria university systerm offered post graduate programs in nurisng and that this number was grossly inadequate , adding however, that the council was aware that most universities were being careful due to lack of adequate manpower, particularly qualified academic staff.
Mrs Azuike also added that the council was willing to work with the NUC in order to evolve modalities that would assist in re-solving this perennial constraint of inadequate manpower through collaborations, linkages and networking. She recounted how the council in collaboration with the NUC had developed curricula on post basic diploma in nursing PGDN and post graduate diploma in nursing education PGDNE and that these had been incorporated into the NUC benchmark minimum acadmic standards (BMAS) for post graduate education in nigeria.
The registrar disclosed that the federal minister of health had approved the internship program for nurses but that the scheme was not captured in the curriculum of the BNSc degree program and appealed to NUC to fully incorporate it in the next review of the BNSc degree program.
Responding to some of the issues raised by the council, the director, office of the executive secretary, Dr Gidado Kumo said that the refusal by the NUC to allow students to graduate in the NOUN was due to the non compliance with the content of the curriculum, particulary in anatomy, physiology and biochemistry.
Dr kumo said that some of the council members who at that time were also students of NOUN argued that since they were practising nurses and were already indexed they did not need to offer those three courses, while the argument in NUC was that to acquire a B.Sc at least 12 credits of anatomy, physionlogy and biochemistry were required.
The director went on to say that NUC had no objection to the internship program, if the council felt it was necessary for its training. He however said the implication of this was the entry point for graduating nurses into the civil service must be reviewed, especially those joining the service for the first time, and that the issue was not solely dependeant on NUC alone.
He therefore urged them to go through the office of the head of service to ensure that the issue of entry requriement was addressed and then write back to the NUC so that it could be incorporated into the bench mark to enalbl students do the internship after this program.
The director of open and distance learning NUC Dr Suleiman Ramon yusuf said that the nursing program in the NOUN was faulty, poorly conceived , hurriedly executed and that it created a lot of problems in the university system. Dr Ramon yusuf said tht the bachelor of nursing science degree program of the national open university of nigeria and an abridged BNSc program for registered nurses were not accredited by the council. He added tht an update on the internship of nurses needed to be indicated in their curricullum as they were just implementing the program.
In a vote of thanks, a member of the delegation and council member, Mrs Adenike Olaogun, thanked the executive secretary, NUC for the opportunity to interact with them pledging that the council would work hand in hand with the NUC to make the nursing program better.
Source: Nursing world
