Planning reform to competency based curricula in undergraduate nursing and midwifery education: A qualitative study.

Background: Reform to Competency-based curricula, a standard for training health professionals of the 21st century, requires rigorous planning for successful implementation. However, although the reform defines the direction of the schools and quality of their products, it lacks in planning and prominence which could lead to the failure and waste of resources.

Objective: To explore the processes of planning reform to Competency-based curricula in undergraduate nursing and midwifery education in Rwanda.

Design: This study adopted a qualitative approach to give detailed descriptions and explanations of the phenomenon. Ethics approval and permissions were obtained before data collection.

Settings: The data was collected on two campuses of the University of Rwanda offering undergraduate nursing and midwifery programs.

Participants: 17 staff participated in this study.

Methods: The data was collected through in-depth individual interviews of staff including four administrators and leaders, seven people occupying both academic management and teaching posts, and six educators. The data was analysed by the researchers following Corbin and Strauss' grounded theory through open coding, axial coding, and selective coding.

Results: Emerged categories were: (a) Establishment of a curriculum development team, (b) sourcing of curriculum development experts, (c) situational analysis, (d) curriculum development, and (e) preparation of stakeholders.

Conclusion: Well-planned reform to Competency-based curricula leads to successful implementation through the involvement of different stakeholders from the beginning.