Page 22 - Nursing Education in Malaysia

NursiNg EducatioN iN Malaysia

These are areas (with exception of Infection Control Programme) that “admit” and
“discharge” patients, where needs must be assessed, problems identified and whose care
must be planned, implemented and evaluated collaboratively or independently. The degree
of patient contact may affect the quality of care. Generally, the principle to go by is that the
more remote/isolated/rural the service, the more critical is the requirement for independent
decision making, the higher is the need for degree holder nurses.

The foreseeable future might see the transformation of the services currently given by
Jururawat Desa to one of “group practice” by degree and diploma nurses. This is saying
in other words that the Jururawat Desa position may become extinct, at least by 2020 if
not sooner.

About 40-50 years ago in the US and perhaps 10 years ago in Australia, a degree is
an upgrading of the diploma, hence served as a promotional criterion. Now in Malaysia,
nursing is in a privileged position to NOT BE in the same situation. It could now have
first level nurses with degrees right from the start, hence, all universities are encouraged to
take in STPM/Matriculation students. This is an opportunity nursing has been waiting for,
ie. to have STPM/Matriculation as entry qualifications into nursing. It is so much easier
to mould STPM/Matriculation students into critical thinkers than to convert the diploma
holders into something different from what they used to be for years. Nursing’s future plan
must include the positioning of degree nurses at the bedside.

To position degree nurses in the clinical setting (or at the bedside), there must exist a
clinical structure (similar to medicine) where nurses can rise both in pay and power while
remaining in the clinical setting providing direct or indirect care to patients and families.
This clinical ladder will provide a new horizon for the nursing profession where nurses
do not have to change direction, either toward teaching or management, in order to gain
profesional recognition.

The Bachelor of Nursing degree is to become the most basic qualification for all
promotional posts in nursing (Figure 1).

By year 2020, the nursing profession may see the merging of nursing service and
nursing education in the same organization, and the structure may be represented like so
(Figure 2).

1