On the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth, May 12, the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) is observing International Nurses Day this year by calling on its member countries to transform nursing education as part of their efforts to advance toward universal health.
Advanced degree programs, interprofessional education and lifelong learning opportunities should be standard offerings to strengthen the region's nursing workforce
Washington, D.C., 12 May 2016 (PAHO/WHO) — On the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth, May 12, the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) is observing International Nurses Day this year by calling on its member countries to transform nursing education as part of their efforts to advance toward universal health.
"Nurses are fundamental to health systems, delivering the vast majority of healthcare services. Yet our region is facing serious nursing shortages, and we are not taking full advantage of the nursing workforce we have," said PAHO Director Carissa F. Etienne. "We need to increase the numbers of nurses but, in addition, we need to improve nursing education and practice to fully develop and utilize nurses' skills, knowledge and experiences."
Nurses are essential to health systems, accounting for 60-89% of the healthcare workforce and delivering up to 90% of all healthcare services. They serve as frontline providers in delivering health promotion, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation in both well-served and underserved areas.
Currently in Latin America and the Caribbean, most nurses are trained either at the baccalaureate level (typically in 4-year programs) as licensed or registered nurses, or as auxiliary and technical nurses with associate degrees. Graduates of masters programs in nursing typically end up teaching or in management rather than in clinical care. Only 10 countries in the Latin America and the Caribbean offer doctoral programs for nurses, and three-quarters of these programs are concentrated in Brazil.
PAHO and other advocates of a stronger nursing workforce say these pathways should be complemented by others that expand the scope of practice and credentials of nurses and that allow health systems to better utilize their capacities.
Toward that end, PAHO/WHO is urging its member governments across the Region of the Americas to transform nursing education and practice in their countries by:
- updating nursing curricula to better address the primary health care needs of the population
- incorporating interprofessional education and greater focus on primary health care into nursing curricula
- instituting programs for advanced practice nurses (APN) and implementing a key role for them in primary healthcare services
- promoting higher education and advanced degrees for nurses
- creating lifelong educational opportunities for nurses.
Experts say these changes can help reverse the healthcare provider shortage, strengthen the nursing workforce, and speed progress toward universal health by increasing the cost-effectiveness, efficiency and quality of health services.
PAHO is currently working in its member countries to promote these and other changes to strengthen the health workforce in general and the nursing workforce in particular. As part of its technical cooperation in this area, PAHO facilitates country-to-country partnerships dedicated to building competencies for nursing faculty and is supporting the development of a set of nursing competencies for APN education. In addition, PAHO coordinates an annual Advanced Practice Nursing Summit, where nursing leaders from throughout the Americas gather to promote the implementation of the APN role in primary health care.
