Development and implementation of the Bachelor of Nursing (Conversion) course in Vanuatu

Vanuatu, a Pacific Island nation in the Western Pacific region, has to date educated its nurses by diploma program. Research evidence in developed countries has consistently shown that nurses educated by bachelor degree improve patient health outcomes and reduce hospital length of stay. In seeking to improve health outcomes, the Vanuatu Ministry of Health decided to introduce a new Bachelor of Nursing degree to provide a skilled, safe nursing workforce for the provision of health care to its peoples{1-3}. The curriculum for this degree was to be developed by Ni-Vanuatu nurse educators with the collaboration of educators from the WHO Collaborating Centre, University of Technology Sydney. However, it was first necessary to upgrade (from diploma to bachelor level) the qualifications of teachers and senior nursing practitioners who would lead the new degree course by introducing a Bachelor of Nursing (Conversion) course.

In order to design and implement a Bachelor of Nursing (Conversion) course that would be relevant for the educational and healthcare context in Vanuatu and that would meet qualification requirements of the local regulatory bodies, it was essential to build collaborative relationships with key stakeholders in Vanuatu. A second key concern was to design a program that would cater for participants who were working full time, who were not all living in the same physical location, and who had limited access to internet technology and resources. The course also needed to take into account that participants were multilingual, and that English was not their first language.

Lessons learned included the importance of coming to understand the sociocultural nexus within which this course was developed and implemented, as well as appreciating the constraints that affect nursing education within the Pacific.