Martine koopman iicd online renewal of licenses for nurses

Editor's Notes

• #3: This is Jesse Lobeni a 28 year old nurse working that participated in the programme. She graduated at Kamuzu College of Nursing (KCN) in 2008 and works now as a nurse in a rural clinic. I want to quote her to tell her story“ I joined the ICT Based CPD program together with the rest of the nurses and midwives in June 2012. Although I had basic computer knowledge by then, the program has enabled me to extend my computer skills even further. Personally I feel that the real benefit of the ICT based CPD is that content can be accessed when its needed. Its found at the door step and the health facility. You don’t have to travel. Additionally with all CPD processes happening on site, its easier to accumulate credit points than before. This year I will be able to finish the assigned credit points in good time and without actually moving away from the health facility. By today I have already gained 18 points and it’s the hope that in the next few months I will finish the 30 points needed for my annual subscription.
• #4: So what is the project all about:The 3-months pilot project with the (NONM) aims to build capacity of 18 nurses/midwives using Information; Communication & Technology (ICT) based Continuing Professional Development (CPD) at Area 25 health centre in Lilongwe district. As a pilot, the project will provide lessons essential for replication to health facilities in other parts of the country.  ICT-based continuous learning will provide latest and accurate nursing/midwifery and healthcare information and communication through health education.The project will bridge the information gap thereby ensuring access to updated knowledge, skills, competencies and attitudes eventually strengthening health service delivery. The project will further reduce cost in time and money for nurses/midwives by reducing number of travels undertaken during the CPD process. ICT-based Continuous Professional Development (CPD) of nursesSmall pilot: 18 nursesOnline eLearning modules for annual practicing certificate with Nurses and Midwives Council of Malawi (NMCM) in ensuring quality of care.Assessment online for renewal of licenceBasic ICT literacy training for nurses before certificate course
• #5: Increased basic ICT skills:Increase computer usage and skills(usage up from 53% to 100%, creating/uploading files from 23% to 100%), all have email access (30% at baseline)Increased Continuous Professional Development:All the nurses and midwives went through a rigorous process of self assessment and action planning.Content was obtained from approved institutions based on needs assessment, The project effectively compiled the content for all the 18 nurses and midwives working at the health facility, Relevant content is now being searched, downloaded and stored on the network for off line usageHigher results on annual CPD (after 3 months already 18 out of 30 cretdits)Change ManagementIncreased awareness of value ICT in annual renewal of license: reduced time and moneyContent was obtained from approved institutions including Nurses and Midwives Council of Malawi, Nursing Directorate of Ministry of Health, Health Education Unit, HIV/AIDS Unit and Reproductive Health Unit
• #6: In this pilot project:Facilitate multi stakeholder involvement: awareness raising, creating local ownership and change management (Ministry of Health (Mo H), Nurses and Midwives Council of Malawi (NMCM) )Capacity building in designing the programme and content developmentDevelop training methodologyDesign of online e-learning environmentSupport the design of Monitoring protocols to measure results of the pilot projectSupport to design Pre & Post-Test Assessments on CPD action plans/gaps developed for nurses/midwives
• #7: Shortage of time for IT training especially for older staffResults show that most of the older nurses and midwives have not acquired adequate skills in MS excel and power point and generally it was very challenging for them to learn basic computer skills such as creating folders and saving files.Shortage of computersA number of the nurses reported that although they now have ICT skills, they don’t have full access to a computer. Limited space at the health facilityIt was also noted that the ICT training as well as CPD was conducted in a room also used as storage for other facility equipment.Frequent blackoutsThe frequent power failures have contributed negatively to the overall CPD process. The content development process delayed due to the black outs as some of the materials were been downloaded from the internet.
• #13: Digitalizing nurses curriculumCreating digital Textbooks for different subjectsProfessionalize creation of new textbooks for nurse training collegesFuture: to develop eLearning materials with focus on interactive multimedia formatsSet up digital printing house with Blue Tree Group