Washington DC, 29 February 2024 (PAHO) – The webinar titled “Enhancing nurses’ capabilities through postgraduate education” was hosted by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) in collaboration with the PAHO/WHO Collaborating Centre (CC) for Nursing and Midwifery Leadership at the School of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania. The event, which took place on 27 February, aimed to explore the opportunities, challenges, strategies, and outlook for advancing nurses’ capacities through postgraduate education, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean.
With over 590 attendees from 35 countries, the majority of participants hailed from the Dominican Republic (18.1%), Peru (11.1%), and Colombia (8.2%). The diverse group consisted mostly of nurses (35.7%), followed by individuals in leadership roles (21.8%) and educators (20.5%). In terms of affiliations, the participants primarily represented educational institutions (34.1%), hospitals (14.1%), and ministries of health (13.1%).
Insights from the “Doctoral Education Training Survey” conducted by the CC across 26 countries in the Americas region shed light on key areas of focus for research training, student assistance, faculty advancement, and doctoral programs. Priority areas include expanding scholarships for research training, refining methodologies and frameworks for nursing research, enhancing faculty and academic leadership capabilities, and implementing innovative curricula to equip graduates with the skills needed for research-oriented programs.
The expert panel, comprising Nelcy Martínez Trujillo from the National School of Public Health in Cuba, María Liliana Calderón Macias from the State University of Southern Manabí in Ecuador, and Dawn A. Munroe from the University of the West Indies School of Nursing in Jamaica, delved into the impact of postgraduate training on bolstering nurses’ competencies in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Discussions during the webinar, enriched by audience contributions, explored avenues for advancing postgraduate training in nursing. These included mapping out professional and programmatic landscapes, devising strategic blueprints and regulatory frameworks, fostering cross-institutional and inter-country partnerships, implementing mechanisms to assess and uphold the quality of postgraduate initiatives, and fortifying the ability to conduct, disseminate, and ensure accessibility to research findings for healthcare professionals. Furthermore, the imperative of advocating for nurses’ access to enhanced training opportunities was underscored.
This webinar serves as a testament to PAHO’s commitment to fortifying healthcare workforce capabilities in the Americas region through initiatives aimed at enhancing capacity-building among professionals.