The Nursing and Midwifery Council (N&MC) has commenced a four-day credentialing forum to vet and grant accreditation to 14 existing and new institutions to run nursing and midwifery programmes.
The 10 existing institutions seeking re-accreditation include Community Health Nurses’ Training School ,Tamale, Northern; Midwifery Training School , Jirapa, Upper West; Midwifery Training School, Nandom, Upper West; Nursing and Midwifery Training College and 37 Military Hospital, Accra, Greater Accra.
The rest are Nyaniba Health College, Greater Accra; Midwifery Training School Yeji, Bono East; Methodist Health Training Institute, Afosu, Eastern; SDA Nursing and Midwifery Training College, Asamang, Ashanti; Knutsford University College, East Legon, Greater Accra and Family Health University College, Teshie, Greater Accra.
A six-member panel comprising officials from N&MC and other institutions are assessing the ability of the training schools to offer selected programmes such as Public Health Nursing, Registered Midwifery, Registered General Nursing and Midwifery, Nurse Assistant Clinical and Bachelor of Science (BSc) General Nursing and Midwifery.
A statement issued by the Public Affairs Directorate of the N&MC in Accra on Monday said the vetting which started on Monday would involve four new institutions; Rans-Eliot School of Nursing Koforidua, Eastern; Miezah College of Health Kumasi, Ashanti; Amen Professional College Kumasi, Ashanti and Margret Marquart Catholic Nursing Training College Kpando, Volta.
A Credentialing Forum is a public meeting between a panel and the institutions who have applied for accreditation or re-accreditation based on certain criteria bordering on quality, efficiency and effectiveness.
Now in its third year, the forum was launched in November 2020 to strengthen N&MC’s accreditation process for existing and new institutions as part of activities to mark the Council’s 50 years of existence.
The statement said standards for accreditation are centred on areas such as mission and administration; faculty and staff; curriculum; programme resources and recurring programme evaluation/outcomes.
“If a school is not given approval or accreditation based on the results at the Credentialing Forum, the school is given the opportunity to address issues based on the report by Panel Members. They are given a chance to re-appear before the panel and justify why they should be given the accreditation,” it said.
The panel is made up of Prof. Dr Otchere Addai-Mensah, Vice Dean of Students, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology; Mrs Rebecca Agyare Asante, the Head of Nursing and Midwifery Services, Greater Accra Regional Hospital and Mrs. Netta Forson Ackon, the President, Ghana Registered Midwives Association.
Others are Mrs Georgina Sam, the Director of Nursing and Midwifery Services, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital; Mrs Judith Asiamah, the Director of Nursing and Midwifery Services, University of Ghana Medical Centre and Mrs Eva Mensah, the Director of Nursing and Midwifery Services, Ghana Health Service.
BY TIMES REPORTER
