The impact of care competency training for primary care nurses in South Africa

• Main Author: Michaels-Strasser, Susan D
• Other Authors: Kortenbout, Elma
• Format: Doctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: University of Cape Town 2014
• Subjects: Public Health and Family Medicine
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/7440

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 184-200). === To effectively support the primary health care transformation of the South African health system, human resource development is needed. Nurses, at the forefront of primary care service delivery, urgently need support and advancement to fulfill their role. This study aimed to investigate the impact of core competency training on primary care nurse competence. To begin this investigation, a framework or core competencies was generated through two reference group meetings. This work was followed by a Delphi study to further define core competence in primary care nursing and how best to measure such competence. Nine core competencies were defined which led to the development and piloting of a core competency evaluation tool including a self-lest and observation tool. This early work was followed by the implementation and evaluation of a novel core-competency training program. This program was implemented within district health systems with working clinic nurses. It involved tour distinct sites in three different provinces. A total of 162 nurses took part in the study, including an intervention and reference group. The goal was to assess the impact of training in a real world setting. Using the self-lest and observation tools, this study showed that competence does improve with this type of training. Additionally, competence is most reliably assessed through observation since test familiarity and possible contamination decrease the usefulness of repeated self-test measures. Further assessment or this novel training program and ref1nement of the measurement tool are recommended. This study can serve to inform health policies, particularly regarding human resource development within emerging district health systems. It provides a practical and effective training approach for increasing nurse performance of primary care core competencies.