Nursing professionals are the lifeblood of the Angolan healthcare system. Improving their education and training is the aim of the Erasmus+ project “Clinical simulation practice-based learning in nursing” (CLINICALSIM). Coinciding with the celebration of International Nurses Day on May 12, we interviewed students from the country who are studying academic programs at the Universidade Internacional do Cuanza (UNIC) and Universidade José Eduardo dos Santos (UJES), both institutions participating in the project.
“I decided to study nursing because I have always wanted to take care of people and I am passionate about health sciences,” says Soraya Manuel Aguiar, a student at Universidade Internacional do Cuanza. Dream and passion are the most repeated words among the students interviewed. “This choice of training has helped me develop specific and necessary competencies in my life and thus be able to better contribute to the quality of life of my country, my continent and the world in general,” adds Claúdio Vunge, also a UNIC student.
However, the adversities they face during their years of study are innumerable. The absence of qualified professors, insufficient equipment, few exchanges of experiences between nursing students from different institutions or the lack of practical training in university classrooms are some of the problems cited by the surveyed students.
Nursing is essential for the development of public health strategies, due to its competencies in the field of health, which include promotion, risk prevention and common care. In the case of Samuel David, a UJES student, the loss of a family member “due to errors of the medical team” encouraged him to pursue nursing studies.
The initial meeting of the project, held in February this year at the Universidade Internacional do Cuanza (UNIC), included the first training of trainers developed by the renowned expert Dr. Francisco Martin, director of the Clinical Simulation Center of the University of Valladolid. The training addressed the fundamentals of the application of Clinical Simulation as a learning strategy in the field of health sciences and was offered to partners and teachers of the participating institutions/collaborators.
Several UNIC nursing students participated in this first training and tell us how was their experience in the simulation. “I think the method is very useful because it provides students with experience or technical knowledge that will help them in their professional career, and also prepares them for future situations or cases” comments the student Horácio Solaki Canjunjulo.
The students’ opinions show that the project is moving in the right direction. Elizabeth Alexandra Pataca says: “I consider it one of the most amazing and exciting experiences of my student life and future professional life. The methods are very useful for my training, as I will be able to use them not only now, but also in the future in my career as a healthcare professional.”
The project will run until 2026, but the results could be long-lasting. “I hope that the CLINICALSIM project will help me gain experiences that will help me as a professional, empower me to be a better healthcare professional and give me technical training to improve nursing care,” Horácio concludes.
What is CLINICALSIM?
CLINICALSIM (2023-2026) is a capacity building project targeting higher education institutions in Angola with the objective of improving the practical training of nursing professionals.
The project is aimed especially at nursing students and university professors, clinical simulation confederates, counselors and managers of higher education in health sciences, health policy makers/public administrations/nursing associations and the community at large (as potential patients).
The project will also address a social objective, in the context of Service-Learning, by taking into account people with socioeconomic barriers and health problems and the promotion of better nutrition habits.
This initiative arises from the collaborative work of institutions from Spain, Portugal and, of course, Angola: the European University of the Atlantic (UNEATLANTICO); the Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre (IPP) of Portugal; the Universidade Internacional do Cuanza (UNIC), Universidade José Eduardo dos Santos (UJES), and the Ordem dos Enfermeiros de Angola (ORDENFA).
More information about the project can be found on their Facebook and X profiles.
What is celebrated on May 12?
Every May 12, International Nurses Day is celebrated to commemorate the birth of Florence Nightingale, a British nurse considered the forerunner of contemporary professional nursing.
This 2024, the day, promoted by the International Council of Nurses (ICN), aims to change perceptions by demonstrating how strategic investment in nursing can bring considerable economic and social benefits.
