Nursing education reform in South Africa: Implications for postgraduate nursing programmes

Abstract

Training of Specialist Nurses is of critical importance for the continued delivery of quality health services globally and in South Africa. In accordance with international trends, nursing education in South Africa has undergone significant educational reforms in the past few years. The aim of this paper is to critically reflect on current nursing education reform in South Africa and the implications for the postgraduate diploma in nursing programmes. The paper highlights some of the challenges encountered with the development, accreditation and implementation of the new nursing postgraduate diploma programmes. Successful nursing education reform requires collaborative and proactive conversations between all stakeholders before changes are made to existing nursing categories and skills mix, during the development of new programme frameworks, during programme development and after implementation of the reform strategies.