NURSING & MIDWIFERY COUNCIL OF NIGERIA (ESTABLISHED BY NURSING AND MIDWIFERY REGISTRATION; ETC. ACT CAP N143, LAWS OF THE FEDERATION OF NIGERIA, 2004). 

 

A COMMUNIQUE AND AFFIRMATION ISSUED AT THE 14TH BIENNIAL NURSING LEADERS CONFERENCE ORGANISED BY THE NURSING AND MIDWIFERY COUNCIL OF NIGERIA, HELD 27TH TO 31ST MARCH 2017 AT HOTEL SEVENTEEN, NO. 6, TAFAWA BALEWA WAY/LAFIYA ROAD, KADUNA, KADUNA STATE

 

THEME: CONSOLIDATING ON THE GAINS OF NURSING AND MIDWIFERY EDUCATION REFORMS IN NIGERIA 

 

PREAMBLE: The Nursing Leaders Conference is a biennial conference organized by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria for Nurses and Midwives occupying apex positions in the public and private sectors of Nigeria's health care industry, academia, corporate / non-governmental organizations and agencies. The attendance at the conference cuts across the 36 States of the Federation and the FCT and had an attendance of 366 participants. 

 

APPRECIATION: The entire participants at the 14th Biennial Nursing Leaders Conference express sincere gratitude and profound appreciation to the following organs of government and organizations: Federal Government of Nigeria, Federal Ministry of Health, Kaduna State Government, Kaduna State Ministry of Health, National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, World Health Organization and Other Partners the Nigerian Police, Resource Persons and other relevant stakeholders for providing the enabling environment, technical and financial support and the necessary logistics for the success of the conference. Our utmost appreciation goes to the Registrar, Management, the Central Planning Committee, the Local Organizing Committee and the entire staff of the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria for a well planned and organized conference and for keeping the flag of Nursing profession flying and the torch burning. 

 

 

The N&MCN and the Nursing Leaders have noted that despite some challenges, a lot have been achieved in Nursing and Midwifery Education reforms in Nigeria due to the immense contributions of, the various Nursing and Midwifery educational institutions in Nigeria, nurses in the academia and nurse clinicians. The N86MCN and the Nursing Leaders appreciate the management of all public and private academic institutions currently running Nursing programmes in the Universities and other. Nursing and Midwifery educational institutions in Nigeria. 

 

The nursing and midwifery human resources has produced a major strength that will be leveraged on to consolidate the gains made in the Nursing and Midwifery education reforms. 

 

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE PROGRAMME 

The following are the highlights and salient points addressed during the Conference. 

 

The key note address was on the theme "Consolidating on the Gains of Nursing and Midwifery Education Reforms in Nigeria". 

 

The following sub-themes were addressed by various resource persons during the conference: 

• Nursing Education Reforms: The Journey So Far. 

• Transformational Leadership in Nursing: The Role of Nursing Elders. 

• Developing a Roadmap for Postgraduate Nursing Clinical Specialty in Nigeria. 

• Sharing Experience on the Achievements, Challenges and Opportunities available to improve Nursing and Midwifery Education and Practice- in Nigeria. 

• Nursing Education, Professional Practice and the Image of the Nurse in Nigeria: Change Begins With Me. 

• Success of Internship: The Role of The Nursing Leaders. 

• Reforming Nursing/ Midwifery Education and Practice in Nigeria: Legal Issues and Challenges. 

 

AFFIRMATION BY NURSING LEADERS 

The 14th Biennial Nursing Leaders Conference held in Kaduna from 27th - 31st March 2017 came up with the following affirmative actions by all the Nursing Leaders, in attendance. 

 

1. The need to get academic recognition for the RN/RM Certificates 

In order to be in line with the National Policy on Education, the Nursing Leaders affirmed that Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria should complete all arrangements to ensure that: 

i. Schools of Nursing and Midwifery are absorbed or assimilated by Universities that have Departments of Nursing in line with the requirements of the National Universities Commission. 

ii. Schools of Nursing and Midwifery that are not able to get absorbed or assimilated should move to National Board for Technical Education so as to get the academic recognition of ND/HND for their graduates. 

iii. Institutions that are unable to meet the requirements of the National Universities Commission and National Board for Technical Education are to be given a timeline to meet up, and in the interim they are to continue with the award of professional certificates. 

 

2. Transformational Leadership by Nursing Leaders 

All Nursing Leaders affirmed that there is need to adopt this form of leadership at all levels to encourage and nurture younger nurses to become future leaders and to ensure harmony in the profession.nursingworldnigeria.com

 

3. Post Graduate Nursing Clinical Specialties 

Nursing Leaders affirmed that the Council should develop a roadmap for Post Graduate Nursing clinical specialties for both ND/ HND and B.NSc. graduates. 

A committee should be set up to work out the modalities that will ensure that all Post Basic Nursing Programmes begin to award Post Graduate Diploma in Nursing in the various specialty areas. 

 

4. Attitudinal Change 

All Nursing Leaders affirmed that change must begin with the Leaders. Nursing Leaders must be change agents and adopt a campaign that can change the attitude of Nurses/ Midwives and redeem the image of the profession. 

 

5. Internship 

All Nursing Leaders affirmed that they will provide Preceptorship, Mentorship and Leadership to young graduands as they undergo internship. 

Leaders also affirmed that they will continue to lobby and advocate for adequate budgetary allocation for the Nurse Interns. 

 

6. Legal Issues 

Nursing Leaders affirmed to ensure that Nurses/Midwives practice within their scope of practice. All acts of misconducts will be reported to the Nurses and Midwives Disciplinary Tribunal. 

 

7. Human Resources for Health 

All Nursing Leaders express appreciation to World Health Organization (WHO), UNFPA and other development partners for their support towards ensuring the availability of Nurses/ Midwives who are the frontline health workers needed to improve health indices in Nigeria. 

 

Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria should work closely with all Development partners to identify areas of collaboration and support in this regard. 

 

RESOLUTIONS 

The Nursing Leaders at the 14th Biennial Nursing Leaders Conference held in Kaduna, March 2017 hereby resolved that: 

1. The N&MCN and NANNM should expedite action by working with the relevant Universities, NUC and other stakeholders to ensure more department of Nursing are established in Nigeria. 

2. The N&MCN and NANNM should expedite action on the movement of the hospital based training institutions in collaboration with NBTE for the provision of academic certification for Nurses and Midwives as they graduate from these Schools so as to fit into the National Policy on Education. 

 

3. The N&MCN, NANNM and State Directors of Nursing Services should sensitize stakeholders at the National, State, Local Governments and facility levels using the following time lines: 

i. Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria, NANNM officials and representatives of Nurse Leaders at the State and Local Government levels are to visit the Honourable Minister of Health and other officials of the Federal Ministry of Health to inform them about how the reform agenda will be implemented. This must be done before the end of April, 2017.nursingworld nigeria.com

ii. After the Nurse Leaders Conference, Directors of Nursing Services of each State must call a meeting of all stakeholders in Nursing education in the state including NANNM, and form different sub-committees to visit and enlighten various state stakeholders. 

 

They must: 

• Determine the personalities to be visited 

• Address the procedure to be taken 

 

This must be done by the end of April 2017 and comprehensive reports must be forwarded to the Council. 

 

iii. States should send delegation to the State Honourable Commissioners for Health which must be led by the State Director of Nursing Services and must take place as soon as possible before the 15th of April, 2017. 

 

iv. States should send delegations to Vice Chancellors of all Universities in the States with Faculties of Medical Sciences without already existing Departments of Nursing to consider establishing a Department of Nursing. Visit must be scheduled for the month of May, 2017. 

 

v. States should send delegates to the Heads of Faculties and Heads of Nursing Department with already existing Department of Nursing to strengthen its capacity and expand its scope to accommodate Post Graduate Programmes in Nursing and Distance Learning. Visit must be scheduled for May, 2017. 

 

4. The NMCN and other stakeholders should work out strategies for establishing Residency programme in Nursing to encourage specialization, Advanced Nursing Practice and Consultancy in Nursing 

 

5. The NMCN and other stakeholders should start developing standard of practice and regulatory framework that will stipulate responsibilities and remuneration of Clinical Nurse Practitioners, Advanced Nurse Practitioners (ANP), Nurse Consultants, e.t.c. 

 

6. Government and Proprietors of training institutions and hospitals should work towards upgrading the schools into colleges, so as to meet the accreditation requirements of NMCN and the National Board on Technical Education (NBTE). Adequate attention should be given to infrastructure, human resources and equipment. 

7. Nursing Leaders and all stakeholders should advocate for institutions and employers of labour to promote human resources development and capacity building of Nurses and Midwives.nurisngworldnigeria 

8. Nursing Leaders, NANNM, Directors of Nursing Services and other Stakeholders should intensify efforts by working with the managements of Universities in their states with approved Colleges or Faculties of Medical /Health Sciences to establish departments of Nursing. This will boost Nursing manpower developments in Nigeria required to sustain the Nursing and Midwifery Education reforms. 

9. NMCN should continue to collaborate with National Universities Commission (NUC) to accredit more departments of Nursing and postgraduate programmes. 

10 The NMCN should restructure the entire Nursing educational system to allow for seamless transition from the ND/ HND and Postgraduate levels Post Graduate Diploma in Nursing (PGDN), MSc, PhD and to accommodate clinical specialization and advanced Nursing Practice in Nigeria. The NMCN should also work with the West African College of Nursing (WACN) to sensitize and come up with clinical specialization in Nursing at Postgraduate levels. This would ensure that Nurses enjoy career progression and satisfaction in the academic and clinical areas. nursingworldnigeria.com

11.Nursing Leaders should give full support and encourage all Nurses in the clinical areas to mentor the Nurse-Interns to become full-fledged professionals. 

12.NMCN should liaise with employers of Nurses and other relevant ministries to include budget for Nurse Interns in their subsequent plans. 

13.N&MCN should collaborate with WHO, UNFPA and other development partners to address the Nursing and Midwifery Human Resource for Health gaps in Nigeria.