South Africa needs to retain nurses and encourage the next generation to join the profession.
The theme for International Nurses Day on Monday, 12 May, is “Our Nurses. Our Future. Caring for nurses strengthens economies”, emphasising the importance of supporting the health and well-being of nurses.
The theme also highlights the critical role a healthy nursing workforce plays in boosting economies, improving health systems, and ensuring better outcomes for patients and communities globally. Valuing the nursing workforce is important so that we can retain the dedicated nurses we already have, while also inspiring a new generation to enter the profession.
Nurses, as the majority of the healthcare profession, lead responses to complex health issues, manage the increased burden of diseases, climate-related emergencies, an ageing population, and respond to global crises such as pandemics and humanitarian disasters. They are also the front-runners in preventative care for non-communicable and communicable diseases.
Although nurses continue to demonstrate remarkable resilience, innovation and leading health care, immediate and bold action is required to transform their working conditions, cultivate their professional development and support their well-being. Caring for nurses in any of these ways is ethically responsible, economically sound, legally necessary, a moral obligation and a societal duty.
The International Council for Nurses’ “Caring for Nurses Agenda” provides a roadmap where nurses can flourish in the healthcare system. The agenda addresses seven critical domains — from staffing and decent working conditions to professional recognition and organisational excellence. While the seven domains are important, I want to focus on professional recognition for nurses, which requires investment into nursing education. Three aspects, namely continuous professional development, nursing education and nurse educators need to be considered.
Continuous professional development
Continuing professional development (CPD) programmes are central to nurses’ lifelong learning and are a vital aspect for keeping nurses’ knowledge and skills up to date. To achieve this, nurses can engage in different approaches to acquiring knowledge through CPD, such as formal learning, courses or workshops, workplace informal learning, self-reflection, appraising literature for best evidence through journal clubs and giving feedback to each other.
Providing ongoing professional development opportunities for nurses will ensure that their expertise is valued, and a culture of excellence and life-long learning is cultivated. Further, nurses will be equipped with knowledge, skills and attributes required to meet evolving health care needs and deliver high quality care.
Investing in continuous professional development for nurses will require institutional support from health care organisations through funding, dedicated time off, and mentorship to facilitate access to workshops, conferences, and online education programmes.
Nursing education
Educating more nurses is critical for the future of the profession and for health care. Investing in nursing education is thus essential in building a skilled and competent nursing workforce that can adapt to a changing health care system. Nursing programmes need to be strengthened to ensure that nurses are prepared to promote health equity, reduce health disparities and improve health and well-being.
Nursing education institutions must ensure that their programme offerings address the future demand for nurses and prepare them for advanced practice positions and competencies such as evidence-based practice, research and leadership. To prepare nurses for the future, new competencies in system thinking, quality improvement and a basic understanding of health care policy and advocacy are required and should be incorporated into nursing curricula.
Our future nurses must be taught how to engage in new professional roles, adapt to new technologies, function in a changing policy environment, lead and collaborate with professionals from other sectors. We have a responsibility to ensure that topics such as the social determinants of health, culturally competent care, trauma-informed care, emergency preparedness, epidemiology and biostatistics, and health equity are integrated throughout the educational experience. We need to build and maintain a strong, fit-for-purpose workforce to address global health problems.
Advancing the nursing profession, requires baccalaureate and PhD-prepared nurses with the competencies to conduct nurse-led research that provides evidence-based solutions to inform healthcare and clinical decision-making. Health care and academic institutions should support a culture of research and innovation by providing funding and infrastructure for nurse-led research. Nurses must be encouraged to lead evidence-based practice initiatives, contribute to health care innovations, and engage in ongoing inquiry to improve care delivery.
Nurse educators
Nurse educators play a multi-facetted role in shaping the future of nursing by not only providing quality education but by serving as mentors, advocates and leaders who contribute to the overall development of the nursing profession. Through their dedication to education, research, and leadership, nurse educators ensure that the profession continues to grow in knowledge, skill, and compassion, ready to meet the problems in the healthcare system. Their effect extends beyond the classroom, influencing the quality of patient care and the effectiveness of healthcare systems.
But we are facing an ageing population, a wave of retirements and an inadequate transfer of skills and capabilities amongst nurse educators, which threaten the sustainability of the nursing education environment. The department of higher education in collaboration with the department of health should explore funding models to support nursing education institutions and cultivate the growth of nurse educators who provide quality teaching, learning and assessment practices.
Nursing schools, universities and colleges and public-private organisations must commit resources to support the development, attraction and retention of competent and diverse nurse educators who can prepare future nurses and ensure the growth of the profession.
Professor Portia Jordan is the executive head of the Department of Nursing and Midwifery in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Stellenbosch University. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of SU.