The Indian context
India is undergoing a period of unprecedented social and economic change. Amongst its 1.2 billion population, economic growth has led to a rapidly expanding urban middle class. At the same time, a large proportion of the country’s population still reside in rural areas in conditions of economic hardship, low literacy and poor health. Increasing migration to the cities for work has created large urban slums lacking in basic amenities. This demographic situation means that the country faces the dual challenge of tackling diseases of poverty alongside an increasing incidence of chronic diseases more traditionally associated with westernised affluent lifestyles. The Indian health system is pluralistic, comprising public, private and voluntary sector facilities, of which the private sector is by far the largest provider. Since 2005, there has been enormous government investment into modernising and expanding India’s public healthcare system through the setting up of a new initiative - the “National Rural Healthcare Mission” [2]. Health system reform is constrained however by an acute shortage of health workers at every level [3]. In addition, poor health system governance (i.e. inadequate systems to monitor and regulate training institutions, professional practice and clinical standards within different settings) has been identified as a critical factor impeding efforts to improve quality and accountability, in both private and public sectors [1].
Nursing in India: a profession in transition
India faces an acute shortage of nursing staff with an estimated deficit of 2 million [4]. In the public sector alone, an additional 140,000 staff nurses are required [5]. The nurse-population ratio is 1:2,500 compared with ratios of 1:150 to 1:200 in higher income nations [6]. The nurse-doctor ratio is also poor – at 0.5 nurses per doctor compared with 3 or 5 per doctor in the USA and UK respectively [1,6].
The development of nursing in India reflects the country’s history and complex socio-cultural composition. Traditionally, amongst Hindu and Muslim communities, the need for female nurses to work outside of the home (including at night), to touch strangers, to mix with men, and to deal with bodily fluids (considered polluting within Hindu and Muslim cosmology) has meant that until relatively recently, nursing was a stigmatised and low status profession [7]. During colonial times, British missionaries attempted to redefine and professionalise nursing as a respectable vocational career [8]. British mission hospitals established nursing schools and recruited poor women or widows from predominantly Christian communities, many from the southern Indian state of Kerala [9]. Kerala remains a major supplier of Indian nurses, although this is changing due to a shift in the desirability of nursing as a career that has come about because of increased opportunities for migration to the Middle East and further afield [10]. As in many other countries, nursing is now seen as a potentially lucrative career choice, a stepping stone to work overseas and towards greater social mobility for the entire family [11,12]. This has led to an influx of men into the profession and to a positive change in the social status of nurses [13]. Nonetheless, in India and throughout South Asia, the desire to avoid the stigma associated with basic nursing tasks forms a strong cultural backdrop to the way in which clinical nursing is valued and practised today [7,14-16].
Research evidence on nurses’ working conditions and job satisfaction in India is limited. However, reports indicate that nursing lacks clear career pathways and mechanisms for promotion; in-service training is rare (except in the best corporate hospitals); pay is low (especially in small private hospitals); and working conditions are often inadequate, lacking sufficient staff, equipment and infra-structure [17-19]. One study in New Delhi, found that nurse:patient ratios of 1:50 were the norm [13]. In the same study (which was based on over 150 interviews) nurses reported spending much of their time doing administrative, menial or unskilled work [7,13]. In a study of female health workers in Kolkata, more than 50% of respondents admitted experiencing sexual harassment at work [20]. Nurses in private hospitals in New Delhi recently staged a strike in protest of low pay and exploitative working conditions [19].
The nursing profession lacks strong strategic representation at key decision making forums at both State and National levels [18,21]. Nursing is governed through the national Indian Nursing Council (INC) and State level Nursing Councils (SNCs) [17] The INC advises the government on nursing matters, prescribes national nursing education syllabi and specifies minimum quality criteria for educational institutions. State Nursing Councils inspect and accredit training institutions, conduct examinations, monitor rules of professional conduct and maintain an active register. However, the legal authority of the INC is weak [17]. For example, a recent survey concluded that 61% of all nurse training institutions do not meet INC standards, but it is unable to take action as the institutions have nonetheless been accredited by the SNCs [3]. Nursing is also represented by a number of state and city based organisations, including the national Trained Nurses Association of India (TNAI). Greater nursing participation in health workforce policy making has been urgently recommended [1]. The INC is currently not a member of the International Council of Nursing.
Nursing education in India
There are 2 main routes into nurse training in India. The majority of nurses undergo a 3 year diploma training in Schools of Nursing to become a General Nurse Midwife (GNM). A minority undertake a 4 year training in a College of Nursing (affiliated to a University) to obtain a BSc degree, referred to as BSN. Apart from the pre-registration programmes described above, University Colleges of Nursing also offer post-registration BSc courses and MSc courses. A national consortium of 5 universities came together in 2005 to start a collaborative nursing PhD programme [22].
In most public sector healthcare facilities, staff nurses are recruited from the GNM cadre (diploma-holders) only. Studies suggest that BSc graduates tend to seek clinical work in the private sector but often view this as a short- term strategy to gain requisite experience to enable overseas migration [13]. Post-registration BSc and MSc graduates are reported to move predominantly into educational positions in the public and private sectors [6]. Thus, as in many countries where clinical nursing carries a low status, academic qualifications are valued as a potential route out of clinical practice into higher status and better paid jobs in education [15].
Due to increasing demand for nurses nationally and internationally, India has witnessed a dramatic proliferation of nursing education institutions in recent years, although there is still an overall shortage. Over 88% of nurse education is now delivered in the private sector. There is also a geographical imbalance in nursing education, with most graduate and postgraduate education being delivered in the South. For example, the highly populous but poorer States in the North (e.g. Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh) account for only 9% of nursing schools in the country [1].
Several reports have highlighted significant problems in nursing education, emphasising that quality must not be sacrificed in the country’s current drive to scale up nurse training provision. Key issues are summarized below [1,3,6,10,18,21]:
• Inadequate educational monitoring and governance at State level (for example, sub-standard institutions continue to receive accreditation despite being unable to meet INC and University standards)
• Serious teaching staff shortages
• Poor physical infrastructure
• Poor educational infrastructure and resources, especially for clinical skills teaching
• Lack of continuing professional development for faculty
• Lack of promotion opportunities for faculty
• Over-cluttered curriculum
• Reliance on didactic teaching approaches
• Poor student living accommodation
• Poor links between clinical areas and educational institutions
• Inadequate clinical experiences (e.g. some placements have too many students; medical students take precedence over nursing students in practising key skills such as deliveries; nursing students may never get the opportunity to gain key clinical competencies)
Amidst the challenges, it is important to point out that there are, of course, also many Centres of Excellence in nursing education in India, but there is limited published material documenting their successes, systems and processes.
One commonly recommended strategy to improve nursing education is to recruit more faculty and to support existing faculty to develop their educational provision and practices [21]. Below, we report on one such initiative from the State of Andhra Pradesh.