Papua New Guinea Nursing and Midwifery Educators Drive ‘Change’

Ensuring the quality of the professional health workforce, of new health graduates and of health educators is a critical component of any plan that is designed to improve healthcare quality. In Papua New Guinea (PNG), improving the capacity and capability of nurses and community health workers (CHW) is of particular importance. Comprising 72% of the country’s professional health workforce (WHO 2020), nurses and CHWs are integral to PNG’s key health priority and health security response efforts, especially in rural and remote contexts. The existing curricula for these health workers, moreover, are not fit-for-purpose. Developed in the late 1990s and finalised in 2002, they not in line with the National Department of Health (NDoH) National Health Plan 2021-2030, nor with current educational and clinical best practice.

To best support PNG’s health workforce in meeting the country’s current and future health needs, WHO Collaborating Centre for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Development at University of Technology Sydney (WHO CCNM UTS) in partnership with PNG NDoH and funded through World Health Organization: Papua New Guinea (WHO PNG) and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trading (DFAT), was tasked in 2021 with carrying out the ‘Strengthening Health Workforce Education (SHWE)’ program which involved a review and development of national curricula for the Diploma of General Nursing (DGN) and Certificate IV for Community Health Workers (CHWs). 

The SHWE Program was informed by a Desktop Review Gap Analysis and NDOH Baseline Survey conducted in partnership with NDoH. This ensured that the revised curriculums are aligned with PNG National Department of Health (NDoH), as well as the latest international health priorities and standards of best practice. By updating the curriculums and supporting capacity-building and professional development activities for nursing and CHW graduates and educators, the program’s long-term aim is to improve the quality of nursing and CHW graduates and, by extension, the capability and capacity of PNG’s health workforce. 

The Fast Track Program formed as part of the larger SHWE Project in PNG focused on supporting nurses and CHW educators, following a request from educators and NDOH, to address both present and future health challenges. The specific focus of the Fast Track Program is on improving teaching of the new nursing and CHW content within schools. Two educators per institute from all 16 Schools of Nursing (SON), and all 19 CHW Institutes were represented at the workshops. There were several Fast Track Workshops run every year between 2023-2024, that focused on understanding the student learning experience, characteristics of learning, theories of teaching and learning, how to design and mark assessments and provide constructive feedback, work-based learning, applying evidence-based teaching, and more.

The Program was implemented by WHO CCNM UTS, in partnership with PNG NDoH, University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG), PNG Department of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology (DHERST), PNG Nursing Council, PNG Medical Board, WHO PNG, DFAT, and PNG–Australia Transition to Health (PATH) program. 

Capacity building through a Fast Track Program encouraged nursing and CHW educators to implement ‘Change’ projects in their respective schools and institutions, putting to practice what they have learnt throughout the program. These projects have shown trackable improvements in curriculum delivery, student engagement, and an improvement in the learning environment. The following stories are personal reflections from the participants on their change project, and how it succeeded or failed in improving their teaching and learning outcomes. The goal of this project is to create sustainable change within nursing and CHW institutes which reflect the embedded goals and content of the new curriculums.

A summary and reflection of the projects have been made available in two books, one for the DGN educators and one for CHW educators, accessible here:

DGN Change projects – https://indd.adobe.com/view/2d034358-44f3-44a1-aa93-cc106ff9621c 

CHW Change projects – https://indd.adobe.com/view/ad178873-82b0-45b7-85e8-0ef26781f172 

These projects address some common issues faced by educators, and update the educational standards of PNG nursing and midwifery. They empower educators to be beacons of change at the local level, and allow for more sustainable improvements through participatory engagement. Some educators have reported sharing their new changes with colleagues, already highlighting the impact of this work.