Abstract
The Nurses and Midwives Council of Malawi (NMCM) has engaged in significant efforts to reform nursing and midwifery pre-service education in Malawi. To that end NMCM decided to revise and strengthen existing syllabi and curricula for nurse midwifery cadres, starting with the nurse midwife technician (NMT). In an attempt to make evidence-based decisions for syllabus revision, NMCM conducted a task analysis to assess how prepared NMTs were to perform tasks in their daily jobs. NMCM used the activity to identify curricular gaps and key NMT tasks. In the task analysis, quantitative and qualitative methods identified NMTs’ perceptions of tasks required for daily practice, competency to perform such tasks, factors influencing quality of care, and pre-service programmatic gaps. NMCM collected data from 48 NMTs randomly selected from a weighted sample of NMTs from all districts in the country. The most frequently performed tasks (≥ 50%) were found to be in infectious diseases and midwifery. NMTs felt inadequately prepared to handle human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) cases, obstetric complications, and certain family planning methods. Findings also identified gaps in clinical training and faculty supervision of students. The task analysis provided a robust approach to curriculum revision through identifying key content gaps. Other countries might consider adopting this approach to improving the content and relevancy of nursing and midwifery syllabi and curricula. Key words: Task analysis, curriculum revision, nursing and midwifery education.
Highlights
The Malawi Health Sector Strategic Plan 2011 to 2016(HSSP) delineates the priority health conditions that affect the country’s population
License 4.0 International License such as Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and maternal and child health (MCH), the Government of Malawi uses task shifting from higher level cadres to nurse midwives and other health cadres to fill critical gaps in health service delivery
Majority of the participants (60% or more) reported feeling competent in tasks for malaria, acute respiratory infections (ARIs), diarrhoeal diseases, malnutrition, non-communicable diseases, trauma, and clinic systems, and in all of the midwifery tasks (Figure 2)
Summary
The Malawi Health Sector Strategic Plan 2011 to 2016(HSSP) delineates the priority health conditions that affect the country’s population. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), tuberculosis (TB), malaria, and maternal and child health (MCH) conditions feature prominently in the HSSP as significant drivers of morbidity and mortality (Ministry of Health, Government of Malawi [MoH], 2011a). Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), more work needs to be done to fully achieve health targets (Ministry of Development, Planning, and Cooperation, 2010; Commonwealth Foundation, 2013). License 4.0 International License such as HIV and MCH, the Government of Malawi uses task shifting from higher level cadres to nurse midwives and other health cadres to fill critical gaps in health service delivery. Development of evidence-based curricula that are linked to national disease priorities is a critical intervention for maintaining high-quality pre-service educational programmes for nurses and other health cadres (Frenk et al, 2010)
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