Appraisal of Barriers and Facilitators Associated with Advanced Professional Education among Nurses in Adamawa State, Nigeria

The health care delivery system is rapidly changing in response to the nature of development in science and information technology. This requires nurses to possess advanced education. This study was carried out to explore types of advanced educational programmes pursued by nurses and to identify the barriers and facilitators associated with advanced professional education. Cross-sectional design was utilized using a multistage sampling technique to select 200 nurses from 6 hospitals in the state, 2 in each of the 3 senatorial districts of Adamawa state. The study reveals 1.10% are holders of university nursing degrees. Majority possess advanced diploma certificates in Midwifery (26.92%), Perioperative nursing (19.78%), Accident and Emergency Nursing (11.54%), and Anesthesia Nursing (9.89%). Earning more salaries/allowances (36.81%), recommendation by employers (25.82%) and promotion purposes (14.84%) are the major facilitators of advanced nursing education. Financial difficulties (23.63%), family pressure/commitment (21.98%), Poor remuneration after training (12.64%), Lack of entry requirement (11.54%), Distance from training institution (9.34%) and Lack of proper placement after training (7.69%) are the barriers to advanced professional education. Finding revealed that only few nurses have undergone university nursing education, majority are advanced nursing diploma programme, hence the study recommends that a scheme of service that reflects the acquisition of various advanced qualification should be put in place for nurses at various levels and Adamawa state universities should be encouraged to introduce advanced nursing programmes.