Establishing National Academic Reference Standards NARS for Nursing

Establishing National Academic Reference Standards (NARS) for Nursing Education in Egypt By Nursing Sector Committee Supreme Council Of Universities

Quality in Nursing Education: The Road to Accreditation

Egyptian Government recognized the need for improving quality of university education standards and strengthening nursing education system to equip graduate nurses with knowledge and Skills. In line with international trends, availability of qualified & competent health care professionals is the key to delivery of quality health care services.

Advanced practice in nursing has become a dominant focus of graduate nursing education over the past two decades. SO Nurses who do not keep upgrading their skills will be left behind by work place changes. AND Life long learning is the only answer for a competitive future.

The NQAAC is working with the Supreme Council of Universities in Egypt to develop national reference standards for 19 sectors covering all higher education, the nursing sector is one of them. They will offer institutions an external reference point for their benchmarking.

National Academic Reference Standards For Nursing Education Project #4 q q q NSC started this project 2005 Purposes: To develop academic reference standards for nursing education. To enhance systematic growth of institution & contribute to its outcome in the community. To match between education as a system and demands of community as a consumer in the quality system.

Project Partners: This project is a consortium b/w all faculties of nursing affiliated to the different universities. Faculties of Nursing of the following Universities: Ø Ø Ø Ø Alexandria Cairo Ain shams Assiut Zagazig Menoufia Tanta 1955 1965 1981 1982 1984 1986 1987

Cont. Faculties of Nursing Ø Ø Ø Ø Port said Banha Mansoura Menia Sohag Ismailia Helwan Damanhour 1992 1993 1994 1995 2006 2007

Project Team q Ø Ø Ø q Project Management Team: Head, Nursing Sector Committee Secretary General of NSC Deans of Faculty of Nursing: Alex, Cairo, Ain shams, Assiut & Suez Canal Universit. Implementation Team: 2 staff members from each university.

Scope of the project Educational quality Helps to realize institutional mission more effectively & responds to expectations of accrediting organizations, community needs and other external stakeholders for accountability in the teaching /learning processes.

Objectives ¡ ¡ ¡ Raise awareness of beneficiaries regarding importance of developing ARS. Design data base of different types of standards, national and international. Develop the academic reference standards Disseminate the endorsed standards to all interest parties. Implement developed reference standards. Measure the efficacy of developed standard.

The focus of the project • Set standards. • Implement standards to ensure quality. • Measure the efficacy of developed standards.

Beneficiaries Ø Teaching staff Ø Students and graduates Ø Stakeholders - Physicians & nurses in health care organizations - Professional organization and community.

Methodology Evaluation Implement Assessment Planning

Phase I: Assessment phase NARS were drafted after reviewing sources: ¡ Community needs. ¡ International educational standards web. ¡ Review of literature / nursing mission. ¡ Stakeholders consultation

Assessment Needs Stakeholder Sources Literature Mission Websites

Phase II : Planning Roles and Attributes of graduate nurses were identified and ARS developed after reviewing national and international standards. NARS were correlated with the role of the nurse.

Distributed responsibilities of the different faculties in developing ARS. Domains Faculties groups - Knowledge and Cairo University- Zagazig University- Menia Understanding University - Professional Skills/ Practice - Intellectual Skills. - Professional Skills/ Practice. Alexandria University- Mansoura University. Menofia University- Tanta University - General and Transferable Skills. Ain Shams University- Benha University. Assuit University- Suez Canal University

Cont. phase II Proposed standards reviewed by management team and validated by experts representing service and education, stakeholders (1 st draft)

§ In 2006, a review of developed NARS. for BSc. Nurse by the implementation group designated by SCU/NS representing 11 faculties of nursing affiliated to public Egyptian Universities through workshops. ( 2 nd draft ) § A final review of the NARS conducted by the management team and experts. ( 3 rd draft )

Phase III: Implementation Faculty of Nursing University of Mansoura

Workshop 24 -25/02/2007 OB: Develop program specification Participants: Steering Committee Method: Revision of own prog. Spec. courses against NARS NSC Approval by Faculty Council 06/03/2004

Activities Implemented ü Symposium to raise awareness of the faculty and stakeholders. ü Workshops for faculties. ü Preparation of Baseline data including national and international standards. ü Domains of ARS identified & agreed upon by ü ARS draft ü Validity ascertained ü Print out of validated standards NSC.

Cont. Activities not yet implemented ¡ Seminar/workshops to train faculty staff members in different faculties on the use and application of the proposed ARS. (on the process, carried out at Mansoura Univ) ¡ Auditing tools to follow up standards implementation. ¡ Report of the follow up & final report (one report has been submitted in September. 2006).

Dissemination • Seminars and workshops • • - Audience from within & outside the nursing field. - Stakeholders opinions, customers for faculty graduates. Leaflets and pamphlets (e-mail). Deans of faculty of nursing Arab region

Quality control & monitoring On going process in all project stages. Supervision of the program activities by the project management team to control the flow of work through the project implementation by checking whether action plan and schedule for the project implementation has been met. Also, via periodic progress report

Output / Outcome § Role of graduate nurses were identified and § § § agreed upon by NSC. Attributes of typical nursing graduate were developed and agreed upon by NSC. Domains of ARS were agreed upon by NSC. A valid standards ready for implementation. Glossary for scientific terms has been developed. Guideline manual for implementation of ARS of nursing education has been developed (under study).

Collaborator Professional development Health Educator Planner & Coordinato r Advocacy Identified Role of the Nurse Health Care Provider Communicator Leader Research participant

Attributes of the graduate nurse An Integral part of the multiple roles of Graduate nurse to: Ø Ø Be a critical thinker Practice within ethical & legal framework of the profession Be an effective communicator Be a competent provider of health, a role model and a responsible manager who help consumers to achieve optimum levels of care.

Role of nurse Provider of Health Care Communicator Collaborator & coordinator Health Educator Advocacy Professional development Research Participant 1. Knowledge and Understanding 2. Intellectual Skills 3. Professional Skills/ Practice 4. General and Transferable skills

Example: Health Care Provider Domains Standards 1. Knowledge & Understanding Utilize concepts and principles derived from the course of study as a body of knowledge for practicing in a variety of set ups 2. Intellectual Skills Synthesize knowledge derived from the scientific, behavioral and nursing sciences for the development of professional skills 3. Professional Skills/ Practice Use a range of assessment techniques to identify physical, psychosocial and cultural needs/ problems. 4. General and Transferable skills Work with consumer, (and his/her relatives/), group/community/population to consider the range of activities that are feasible/ acceptable in planning the care including possibilities for referral.

Example: Health Care Provider Domains 1. Knowledge & Understanding Standards -Identify patient at risk to develop malnutrition. -Identify complications of nutritional support and nursing interventions for prevention of these complications. 2. Intellectual Skills -Recognize nutritional alterations associated with CVS, pulmonary and renal alterations. -Compare between advantages, disadvantages of enteral & parenteral feeding in critically ill patient. 3. Professional Skills/ Practice -Insert a NGT for critically ill patient. -Administer enteral tube feeding. 4. General and Transferable skills Collaborate with a multidisciplinary team in designing a nutrition program for critically ill patients.