Dube, Barbara, Mtshali, Ntombifikile, and Harerimana, Alexis (2023) Competency-based and primary health care oriented undergraduate nursing programme: Curriculum development and implementation process. Journal of Nursing Education and Practice, 14 (3).

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Abstract

Background and aim: Primary Health Care is a foundational element within the realm of healthcare reforms, serving as a linchpin for achieving Universal Health Coverage and Sustainable Development Goals. Globally, there is a growing emphasis on building a robust primary health care nursing workforce to meet the challenges arising from chronic and complex diseases. Nursing schools are expected to align their educational programmes to the population’s health and the country’s health context, thus integrating relevant primary health care related competencies into their curricula. The study aimed to analyse the process of developing and implementing a primary health care oriented undergraduate nursing curriculum in South Africa.

Methods: A qualitative grounded theory approach by Strauss and Corbin’s framework guided this study. Forty participants—purposively selected—participated in the study. The data were collected using focus group interviews, in-depth interviews, observations, document analysis and memos. The data were analysed using the grounded theory method of constant comparative data analysis through a systematic coding, categorisation and theory-building process.

Results: The development of a primary health care oriented undergraduate nursing curriculum included: creating a curriculum team, establishing the context, obtaining the consensus on graduate primary health care competencies, determining curriculum foundation, selecting and organising the content and learning experiences, selecting experiential learning sites, selecting teaching, learning and assessment strategies. Furthermore, the study revealed competencies in primary health care expected from the students: care provision, professionalism, communication, collaboration, health advocacy, leadership and management and research. The implementation of a competency-based and PHC-oriented curriculum required the capacity building of facilitators, students, clinical mentors and preceptors and effectively adopting transformative teaching, learning and assessment.

Conclusions: A competency-based and primary health care oriented undergraduate nursing curriculum is a tool to assist in producing competent graduates who are relevant and responsive to the population’s needs in a primary health care oriented healthcare system.

Research Statement

Research Background	Primary Health Care (PHC) is a foundational element within the realm of healthcare reforms, serving as a linchpin for achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and the health- related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This commitment to PHC was reaffirmed by governments in 2018 through the Astana Declaration. Globally, there is a growing emphasis on building a robust primary health care nursing workforce to meet the challenges arising from chronic and complex diseases.
Research Contribution	Competency-based and PHC-oriented curriculum developed in this study was to ensure consistent and standardised training of undergraduate nursing students. The identified PHC competencies will ensure that nursing graduates have the same knowledge and skills to work effectively in diverse community settings, address the social determinants of health, and contribute to population-based PHC initiatives.
Research Significance	Nursing education institutions are expected to offer programmes that respond to the healthcare system’s demands and produce appropriate graduates in quality, quantity and relevance. A PHC-oriented undergraduate nursing curriculum prepares students to provide comprehensive and holistic care to individuals, families and communities. Adopting a competency-based approach when developing and implementing PHC-oriented curricula is essential.This approach to the curriculum is viewed as a disciplined approach aimed at specifying the health problems in the population as well as the health system needs that need to be addressed and systematically identifying the requisite graduate competencies for health system performance which are used as building blocks and an organised framework around which systematic instruction, assessment, grading, and reporting are based.
Item ID:	81387
Item Type:	Article (Other)
ISSN:	1925-4059
Keywords:	Competencies, Competency-based curriculum, Curriculum, Primary health care, Nursing education, South Africa, Undergraduate
Copyright Information:	This is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Date Deposited:	18 Dec 2023 02:07
FoR Codes:	42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4205 Nursing > 420599 Nursing not elsewhere classified @ 30% 39 EDUCATION > 3901 Curriculum and pedagogy > 390110 Medicine, nursing and health curriculum and pedagogy @ 35% 42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4205 Nursing > 420503 Community and primary care @ 35%
SEO Codes:	20 HEALTH > 2003 Provision of health and support services > 200302 Community health care @ 35% 16 EDUCATION AND TRAINING > 1603 Teaching and curriculum > 160301 Assessment, development and evaluation of curriculum @ 35% 20 HEALTH > 2003 Provision of health and support services > 200307 Nursing @ 30%
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