Incorporation of Nurse Initiated Management of Antiretroviral Treatment course within the undergraduate nursing programme North West province

Abstract

the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and/or AIDS (UNAIDS) introduced the 90-90-90 strategy during the 20th International AIDS Conference held in Australia (UNAIDS 2017:8). The strategy states that by 2020, 90% of PLWHA should know their status, 90% of PLWHA initiated on ART and 90% of people on ART virally suppressed (UNAIDS 2017:8). According to O'Byrne, without more healthcare workers to increase access to HIV healthcare services, healthcare facilities will remain strained (O'Byrne et al. 2021:7). Before the UNAIDS strategy, there was a shortage of four million healthcare workers in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and America (WHO 2008:6).To decentralise HIV healthcare services among PLWHA, South Africa (SA) adopted the WHO's 2008 Task Shifting Strategy and introduced Nurse Initiated Management of ART (NIMART) course Background: According to the 90-90-90 strategy, the focus is on 90% of people living with HIV and/or AIDS knowing their HIV status, initiated on antiretroviral treatment and achieving viral suppression. The challenge is that only 74% of people living with HIV and/or AIDS are on antiretroviral treatment, and HIV mortality still occurs. Literature recommends the incorporation of a Nurse Initiated Management of Antiretroviral Treatment (NIMART) course within the undergraduate nursing programme to capacitate new nurses to manage people living with HIV and/or AIDS immediately after completion of their training. However, the NIMART course is still not incorporated, and there is dearth of information on this topic in North West Province (NWP).Aim: To explore and describe nurse educators' perceptions regarding the incorporation of NIMART course within the undergraduate nursing programme in NWP. Setting:The setting of this research study was nursing education institutions of the NWP.Methods: Phenomenography qualitative research design was followed. Twelve nurse educators underwent purposive selection and unstructured individual interviews were conducted. The research co-coder verified the findings. There were ethical considerations and trustworthiness maintained throughout the study.Results: Main themes that emerged in this study depicted benefits and challenges associated with NIMART course incorporation within the undergraduate nursing programme as stated in Table 1. Conclusion:This study concluded that NIMART course incorporation within the undergraduate nursing programme is a good and relevant idea, which requires human and non-human resources. Contribution:The study contributed new knowledge on how nurse educators perceive the NIMART course incorporation within the undergraduate nursing programme in NWP.