Building the capacity of nurses in southern African countries to deliver HIV/AIDS services: A comprehensive approach

Background: Nurses play an increasingly critical role in caring for the majority of people infected or affected by HIV/AIDS in southern Africa. This requires a comprehensive service delivery capacity that often has not been developed during pre-or-in-service education, or by supplemental HIV/AIDS, didactic training focused, capacity building programs.

Methods: Comprehensive nurse capacity building activities were conducted to meet nurse stated need across Lesotho, South Africa and Swaziland. Between July 2007 and December 2008 over i) 1200 nurses participated in short-term didactic, active-learning courses and individual clinical mentoring; ii) 200 nurses received leadership mentoring; and iii) 115 participated in activities to support nurses living with HIV or managing multiple loss and grief experienced by nurses in their workplaces, homes and communities. Pre-post and follow-up data were collected from participants and supervisors.

Results:

1) Nurses reported gaining HIV/AIDS knowledge, skills and attitudes from didactic activities.

2) Clinical nurse mentors reported collaborating with nurses to overcome challenges to the application of knowledge, skills and attitudes learned through didactic activities into clinical care.

3) Nurse leaders were engaged in regional partnerships to strengthen the role of nurses in HIVAIDS policy, education and practice.

4) Nurses reported that ‘care of the nurse' activities improved their understanding of the need to address grief and loss among nurses.

Conclusions: It is likely that a comprehensive approach, including HIV/AIDS knowledge, clinical skills, leadership skills and care of the nurse, is required to strengthen nurses' capacity to deliver HIV/AIDS services in the demanding environment of southern Africa.