Nurse educators' perceptions on the incorporation of NIMART into an undergraduate nursing programme in North West Province

Abstract

Introduction and background South Africa (SA) has the largest ART programme, which underperforms in terms of initiating People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) on Antiretroviral Treatment (ART). Lack of ART leads to high rates of morbidity and mortality among PLWHA. According to UNAIDS, the 90 90 90 strategy focuses on reaching 90% of PLWHA knowing their HIV status, 90% of those knowing their status being initiated on ART and 90% of those on ART achieving viral suppression. South Africa is underperforming in terms of the second 90%, as only 74% of PLWHA are on ART and HIV- related deaths persist. To restrain this gap, literature recommends the incorporation of a Nurse Initiated and Managed Antiretroviral Treatment (NIMART) course in the undergraduate nursing programme, to capacitate new nurses to manage PLWHA immediately after completion of their training. However, the NIMART course is still not incorporated and there is a dearth information about this topic in the North West Province (NWP). Aim: The aim of this study was to explore and describe Nurse Educator’s (NE) perceptions regarding the incorporation of the NIMART course within the undergraduate nursing programme in NWP. Methods: There was a phenomenography qualitative research design followed. The use of a virtual platform was to recruit and interview nurse educators in this study. The study maintained trustworthiness and ethical principles throughout. Results: Four themes emerged in this study namely: Incorporation of NIMART course into the undergraduate programme is a good idea; NIMART course to be a module on its own; Challenges experienced without the NIMART course; Challenges, which might hinder NIMART incorporation into the undergraduate nursing programme. Conclusions: This study concluded that the incorporation of NIMART course at undergraduate nursing programme is a good idea that required stakeholder collaboration and non-human resources.