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Nursing Education 2018
Journal of Nursing and Health Studies
ISSN: 2574-2825
Page 58
April 23-25, 2018
Rome, Italy
27
th
Edition of World Congress on
Nursing Education &
Research
J Nurs Health Stud 2018, Volume 3
DOI: 10.21767/2574-2825-C1-003
Background:
After a decade of civil war, the people of Liberia had
enormous mental health problems related to extensive physical
and psychological violence. As there was only one psychiatrist
in the country, the Liberian Ministry of Health requested the help
of the Carter Center in Atlanta Georgia to address the country’s
mental health needs. Nurses were the largest group of health care
providers and a program was launched to prepare 150 nurses to
become Mental Health Clinicians over five years. I was asked to
create the curriculum for this program in partnership with the
people of Liberia and to work with Liberian educators, clinicians
and health care administrators to implement it in a “train the
trainer” model. I have been involved in this project since 2010
without compensation.
Objectives:
Themainobjectivesof theprogramwere to: 1) prepare
Liberian nurses/physician assistants as mental health clinicians;
2) strengthen the knowledge and skills of mental health trainers/
educators in the existing Liberian educational and health care
systems; 3) enhance the teaching environment for mental health
professionals/paraprofessionals.
Methodology:
I developed a six month curriculum in partnership
with key members of the educational, practice and administrative
sectors in Liberia. It was based on advanced practice psychiatric
nursing content taught in the United States and consisted of
five courses taught in a train the trainer model over a 6 month
period of study. I held curriculum workshops in Liberia in which
all courses were reviewed in detail and then revised, refined and
reviewed again in a process of continuous interaction.
Outcomes:
The outcomes of the study were: 1) there have been
166 graduates of the program with mental health clinicians
placed in all 15 counties of Liberia; 2) the program facilitated the
creation of a registered psychiatric nurse accreditation program
by the Liberian Board of Nursing; 3) content from the program
was incorporated into pre-service nursing curricula in Liberian
nursing schools.
Conclusion:
As this program ended, the Ebola virus disease broke
out in Liberia. The mental health clinicians provided much need
education, support and care. In addition, the World Bank funded
a new initiative to train 100 child and adolescent Nurse Mental
Health Clinicians in three years. I created this curriculum and am
continuing to work on implementing it in Liberia. To date 64 of the
100 nurses have graduated.
stuartg@musc.eduNursing and mental health in Liberia
Gail W Stuart
Medical University of South Carolina, USA