Page 27 - Nursing Education in Malaysia

3/ tHE status of NursiNg iN Malaysia

Masters degree in nursing
A nurse who meets the criteria for entry into a Masters programme should do so after
gaining some experience as a Staff Nurse. Further, those who have desires to become
lecturers or nurse managers or clinical nurse specialists must pursue a Masters degree in
clinical nursing.

All universities are encouraged to establish Masters programmes in clinical courses
such as critical care, midwifery, mental health, community health, paediatrics, oncology
and so on, to enable nurses to become nurse experts which will allow them to teach, to
manage clinical programs, to conduct research, or to be entrepreneurs.

The clinical nurse specialist position is a good example, whereby its very “name”
(nomenclature), she is a specialist, therefore an expert. She has a Masters degree in a
clinical specialty and strong knowledge and skills in teaching and research. She is the
expert nurse in a particular setting who is responsible for the total care of patients within
her specialty. She is accountable for accurate nursing assessment, problem identification,
planning of care and in particular evaluation of care as a basis for effecting change in
the nursing care of the patients. She is responsible for developing the “critical pathways”
(designed along with the case mix system) and for their effective implementation.

The clinical nurse specialist will provide leadership in bedside nursing which involves
direct care with its ethical and medico-legal issues, patient education, discharge plan,
counseling of patients and quality assurance. She is the “referral centre” for all nurses in
the unit and the consultant for medical specialists and for Nurse Manager and Director of
Nursing. She is also responsible for providing leadership in the conduct of team research as
a basis for providing evidence-based care. Lastly, she will provide leadership in planning
and conducting educational programmes for the Unit.

For certain, a nurse with a Bachelor of Nursing with a postbasic course (as
currently practiced) cannot be a clinical nurse specialist. She would lack the maturity
and intellectual capacity to collaborate with medical specialists, to conduct research and
to initiate educational programmes for nurses. Only nurses with a Master’s degree in a
clinical specialty and sufficient research input and education and management technology
can do this.

In this context, all universities are encouraged to include in the Masters programmes,
core courses in research (statistics and research methodology), education and management,
besides the clinical specialty, so that upon graduation, they can use the specialty knowledge
and skills to teach, manage a facility and conduct research or simply be a clinical nurse
specialist. In the same token, universities are also encouraged to employ only those with
expert knowledge and skills in a specialty as lecturers. For example, a Masters degree in
Nursing (Critical Care) to teach critical care nursing, in order to perpetuate a culture of a
clinical ladder as an integral part of nursing.

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