Abstract
BackgroundThe World Health Organization has admonished member countries to strive towards achieving universal health coverage (UHC) through actionable health policies and strategies. Nurses and midwives have instrumental roles in achieving UHC via health policy development and implementation. However, there is a paucity of empirical data on nurses and midwives’ participation in policy development in Ghana. The current study explored nurses and midwives’ participation in policy development, reviews and reforms in Ghana.MethodsA qualitative descriptive exploratory design was adopted for this study. One-on-one individual interviews were conducted after 30 participants were purposefully selected. Data was audiotaped with permission, transcribed and analyzed inductively using the content analysis procedures.ResultsTwo main themes emerged from the data: participation in policy development and perspectives on policy reviews and reforms. The findings showed that during health policy development and reviews, nurses in Ghana were overlooked and unacknowledged. Policy reforms regarding bridging the pre-service preparation gap, staff development and motivation mechanisms and influence on admission into nursing schools were raised.ConclusionThe authors concluded that nurses and midwives are crucial members of the healthcare systems and their inputs in policy development and reviews would improve health delivery in Ghana.
Highlights
The World Health Organization has admonished member countries to strive towards achieving universal health coverage (UHC) through actionable health policies and strategies
It was evident that nurses appreciate policies and regulations as guiding elements for the smooth operations of any healthcare system
Nurses and Midwives hinted at their limited participation in policy development in the health sector in Ghana
Summary
The World Health Organization has admonished member countries to strive towards achieving universal health coverage (UHC) through actionable health policies and strategies. The World Health Organization has the mandate to ensure universal health coverage [1] This goal can only be achieved if the contribution of nurses to healthcare systems is acknowledged and their suggestions and feedback on policies properly put into action. There are facilitators and barriers to nurses’ participation in policy review and development These include the image of nursing as well as structures and processes within health care systems [5]. In the Ghanaian context, nurse leaders can only exert their influence on nurses and not the entire health system since health service leadership is mostly occupied by medical staff Their involvement in policy development and review is only limited to policies concerning nurses. This limits their involvement in national policies that concern the entire health system
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