A Qualitative Study Assessing Haitian Pediatric Nursing Educational Needs in Port-au-Prince, Haiti

After Port-au-Prince's 2010 earthquake, Hospital Bernard Mevs (HBM) developed a collaboration with international medical volunteers to provide clinical care and medical resources; that evolved to include medical education as local Haitian staffing developed. There has been limited coordination among volunteers and local providers about ways in which volunteers can best serve the hospital, and literature that addresses how to coordinate volunteer efforts to support the educational needs of the local nursing staff is scant. Our objectives were to complete an educational needs assessment of the most common diagnoses encountered, requested topics for education, and preferred learning modalities as reported by Haitian pediatric nurses, and categorize the strengths of HBM and barriers to care to understand more fully the context within which nurses function, and how education and international volunteers may be related. In October 2019, 10 HBM pediatric nurses participated in small-group interviews. Questions were based on an interview guide and responses were coded and analyzed for recurring themes. The most common diagnoses were sepsis, hydrocephalus, and hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy. Topics for review included chest tubes, ventilator management, and ventriculoperitoneal shunts. Preferred learning modalities were didactics and hands-on workshops. Strengths of the hospital were team dynamics and education provided by HBM and international volunteers, whereas the most common barrier to care was lack of clinical supplies. This information is useful to guide future educational interventions, and this model may inform other programs with a volunteer presence in resource-limited settings to promote collaboration and self-directed learning.