Principals meet in Port Moresby to discuss quality improvement

The Principals of all Schools of Nursing and Community Health Worker Training Institutes in Papua New Guinea met in February 2015 in Port Moresby to discuss quality improvement of their institutes.

Principals and staff from nine Schools of Nursing/Midwifery (SON) and twelve Community Health Worker Institutes (CHW) came together on 23 – 27 February 2015 supported by the National Department of Health (NDoH) and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Australia (DFAT). This meeting was convened to produce Quality Improvement Plans as recommended in the 2012/2013 NDoH DFAT Diagnostic Audits of the institutes.

Secretary for Health, Mr Pascoe Kase released a statement saying: “The week-long meeting of school principals has resulted in all training institutions having quality improvement plans in place that are consistent with the national accreditation framework. With funding support through the Department of Health and the Government of Australia, they will implement a comprehensive program of infrastructure rehabilitation, curriculum review, textbook and essential equipment procurement, and quality improvement. This will result in significant increases in the number and quality of our CHWs and nurses across PNG.”

Principals of Schools of Nursing and Community Health Worker Training Institutes meeting in Port Moresby PNG

The2012 Diagnostic Audits showed morale of educators is low and they only remain working in the institutes for one to five years. The following recommendations were developed by the Principal’s to address this and other issues:

1. Urgent need to review both the nursing and community health worker curriculums in line with the new National Health Plan 2011-2020.
2. Ongoing Preceptorship training urgently needed through support from the NDoH.
3. Strengthen partnership with NDoH in terms of communication, continuing professional development, and ensuring consistency in funding including salaries for state and church schools.
4. It is essential that all training institutes and students have access to, and are provided, copies of treatment books and national standards.
5. Training institutes are in urgent need of internet services to enable high quality education provision to students.
6. Continued in put for infrastructure improvements following NDoH DFAT Diagnostic Audits carried out in all nursing and CHW institutes.
7. It is essential the Principals of all training institutes of nursing, midwifery and CHWs meet annually.

The five day workshop was attended by Michele Rumsey, Director of Operations and Development of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Development, University of Technology Sydney (WHO CC UTS) who was part of the team conducting the 2012 Audit of all SONs; and Jodi Thiessen, Project Manager WHO CC UTS who worked with the Principals to further their Quality Improvement Plans.