Rethinking Nurses’ Continuous Professional Development in the Era of COVID 19 Pandemic: Empirical Evidence from Kenya

Abstract

Background: The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has triggered a global emergency in all social realms, including but not restricted to the economy, health, and education. The health sector requires all healthcare professionals to be well-equipped with the latest advances in knowledge and research through Continuing Professional Development (CPD). These educational endeavors have been severely affected and potentially compromised since they heavily rely on learning through face-to-face interactive activities. Although it is mandatory for nurses in Kenya to participate in continuing professional development programmes the evidence on the effect of their continuing professional development programmes remains unclear. Besides the CPD requirement in Kenya, there is no clear evidence that the nurses and midwives have an enabling environment to accomplish these requirements. Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine utilization of Continuous Professional Development on nurses’ performance of in Narok County amid the Covid-19 pandemic in Kenya. Methodology: A cross sectional descriptive study was conducted in Narok County Health facilities. A mixed method approach, which provided for triangulation that sought convergence and corroboration of the results from questionnaire, was adopted. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 40 respondents for the study. Data was checked for completeness and consistency and then entered into SPSS version 26.0 for analysis. Descriptive statistics used included frequencies, percentage, mean and standard deviation. Findings: Results of the study established that majority (58.6%) of the nurses often participated in formal CPD activities like conferences workshops and seminars (M = 4.27, SD = 0.933). It was also established by the study that that continuing professional development had improved their skills and competencies (M =4.03, SD =1.097); had improved their techniques in nursing care (M = 4.02, SD = 0.891) and had given them latest knowledge on how to treat clients (M = 4.25, SD =1.256). Further revealed that continuous professional development activities had a positive and significant effect on nurses’ performance (β = 0.380, p-value = 0.015 < α = 0.05). Conclusion: The study concludes that CPD programs have a very positive effect on the performance of employees, as they considered it a crucial aspect in developing their knowledge, skills and attitudes. Thus, CPD should be a priority for health professionals as a means of quality assurance and workforce advancement