Exploring educational program for specialisation of the primary care nursing role

Abstract

In countries including Australia, Canada, Ireland, the UK and Spain, primary care nursing (PCN) is situated as a part of the nursing education but it is not well recognised in Japan. As Japan's society continues to age, there is a shift underway from hospital to community care and the role of nurses in the community is arguably more important than ever before. There are misconceptions around the role of primary care nurses, including the incorrect assumption that their role is that of a doctor's assistant. Rather, their roles are far more complex and require a people-centred approach. Dr Mayumi Kako, School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Division of Nursing Science (International Disaster Nursing), Hiroshima University, Japan, is working to improve understanding of and appreciation for the role of primary care nurses. This research involves developing educational programmes to improve awareness of the professional role of PCN. She and her team are drawing comparisons between the concept of PCN in the basic nursing educational curriculum in Japan and PCN education in Australia, Canada, Spain, UK, and Ireland in order to identify contrasts and enhance awareness. If they can better understand how the PCN concept is positioned in other countries, they will be able to identify gaps between PCN curriculums in these countries and Japan, and investigate how the PCN concept could be embedded into the Japanese nursing curriculum in the future.