E-learning Introduced for Nurses

What would we do without nurses? In Zambia, If not on strike for poor conditions of service, nurses can be found taking care of ill people in our few hospitals.  There is also the problem of understaffed health centres. Let me drift and say the conditions in most hospitals and clinics do not even encourage you to admit that you’re sick or stay sick. One foot through a hospital door and you “feel better” already, opting to take your medicine at home rather than get admitted. Or even just settling for the nearest pharmacists opinion and prescription is usually a better option.

Anyway, good news to all aspiring nurses. The Ministry of Health, together with Child Fund International have gone tech savvy and introduced e-learning for aspiring health workers. This will speed things up in terms of training and get qualified staff aboard. Zambia lacks over 11, 000 nurses to satisfy the nurse-to-patient ratios so it is really cool that such incentives are being done.

So, if you want to sign up, the e-learning centres will only be at done at nursing colleges managed by the Ministry of Health and will for now only be done at 5 schools, Livingstone, Chipata, Mufulira, Kitwe and Ndola starting in March. Any other centre would be probably be shady business so be careful. The Ministry of Health’s Dr. Joseph Kasonde has already given about 90 computers towards the cause; thus the ball is rolling.

Over 5000 nurses are expected to be trained under this program over a 5 year period. Do not be afraid to sign up thinking you will not be as qualified as those nurses that learn under traditional methods. You will all be at equal levels with the same knowledge, just way cooler for having done it online and tougher. Tougher because e-learning is independent and you need to be made of strong stuff to successfully handle it. On the other hand, it could also mean the end of your aspirations to be a nurse due to the possibility of failing miserably should you fail to handle the independence. There will definitely be a difference between classroom trained nurses and online trained ones, it is up to the Ministry of Health and it’s partners to lessen the gap. Future nurses are in safe hands though,  as the Child Fund has trained staff who will assist in the adaptation of e-learning method.

Let’s just hope that the best internet has also been demanded to go with this initiative and kick-start the online classes. Otherwise, we all know what will happen… “TIME OUT!”

Image credit: Executrainky