Evaluation Of Basic Nursing Education Programmes In Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Nursing Education is a humanistic science which focuses on the intellectual development of the learner, compassionate concern for the sick, rehabilitation of the disabled and care for the dying. Hence the goal of nursing education reflects the needs, problems and aspirations of the society. Despite the series of reforms in nursing education, in response to societal needs and challenges, basic nursing education curriculum under investigation has not been evaluated since its introduction into the Nigerian educational System in the year (2001) to ascertain its strength and weaknesses and to incorporate emerging health issues and new courses such as nursing informatics, safety and security challenges in the workplace, cultural sensitive care, guidance and counselling among others. A responsive curriculum is the curriculum that is relevant to the current, anticipated needs, problems and expectations of the learner. It takes cognisance of vital social changes and challenges in the environment and prepares the learner to cope with these challenges adequately. This study examined the effectiveness of BNE programme in meeting the needs of the students and the society. It also examined the extent to which BNE programmes are provided with the required facilities and instructional materials to ensure the production of utility graduates. Descriptive survey and quasiexperimental, pre and post-test control group designs were adopted for this study. The population of the study consists of 1,190 respondents selected from seven basic nursing institutions in the southEast, South-west and North-Central states of Nigeria. A total sample size of 700 students and 70 teachers’ male and female inclusive were selected for the study using multistage sampling. The following research instruments were designed, validated and used for the study namely; structured questionnaire, observation, interview schedule, checklist and content analysis. The research questions were analysed descriptively using mean, and standard deviation. The null hypotheses were tested with Univariate Analysis of variance at an alpha level of 0.05 while Factor analysis was employed to identify the major factors militating against the effective implementation of BNE programme in Nigeria. Observed data and data obtained from structured interview schedule were qualitatively analysed. The findings of the study revealed that basic nursing education curriculum has not been evaluated since its inception in the year 2001, the state of the facilities is grossly inadequate, and some of the products of basic nursing education programme are not proficient on the job. It is therefore recommended that BNE programme should be evaluated when it has completed its life cycle after three years and every three years, and should be committed to capacity building of teachers and students to cope with the current and emerging issues in nursing profession.