Date of Award

1-1-2015

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)

Department

Yale University School of Nursing

First Advisor

Linda Honan

Abstract

Nigeria’s critical health care needs and shortage of physicians have led to the independent practice of experienced registered nurses (RNs). These nurses practice without having studied a curriculum specifically geared toward this advanced level, which is not optimal for health outcomes. However, given that Nigeria has not adopted an official advanced practice nurse (APN) role, such training is currently not available.

APNs could provide a skilled, competent choice for Nigerian primary care, but the views of stakeholders like Nigerian physicians may impact official adoption of this role. This paper describes a sample of 12 physicians’ knowledge and attitudes toward the possibility for advanced practice nursing in Nigeria.

The study design was descriptive and qualitative, including a demographic survey and in-depth interviews. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Krippendorff’s thematic clustering technique was used to identify five inter-related themes: Nigeria Today and Tactics for Tomorrow, Critical Time for Nursing in Nigeria, Preserving the Hierarchy of Health care, Pervasive Fear, and Optimism: Hope for the Future. This study demonstrated that although several potential problems and current issues must be addressed before implementation of an advanced practice nurse role, it could very well be a positive and welcome change supported by physicians in Nigeria.

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