An innovative training approach to improve nurses’ performance and health services for communities has been adopted for nurses in the Central Division.
The Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) national advisor Dr Isimeli Tukana said Fiji had made significant progress towards improving quality of health services such as implementing in-service training for nurses.
The Need-Based In-Service Training (NB-IST) model was developed in the Central Division in 2005 and 2008 and in October 2010.
The project for strengthening the NB-IST for community health nurses in Fiji, Tonga and Vanuatu was launched between the health ministries in these three countries and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
A one-week regional training is being held at Tanoa Hotel organized for the three countries. This is a first under the project.
“The purpose of the training is to provide participants with the necessary knowledge on development of sustainable NB-IST system,” Dr Tukana said.
During the training, experiences of innovation will be shared through lectures, presentations, discussions and field visits to Tailevu and Naitasiri sub-divisional health centers.
This is a three- year technical cooperation project where Fiji will establish a national NB-IST system based on the findings from the model. In Tonga and Vanuatu, the NB-IST model will be tailored to fit into each country’s system and be implemented.