Page 53 - Nursing Education in Malaysia

4/ visioN 2020 for NursiNg

implemented and evaluated collaboratively or independently. The degree of
patient contact may affect the quality of care.

(b) Non-patient care areas are those areas that provide direct or indirect services
which can be described as nursing and non-nursing. The absence of registered
nurses may or may not affect the quality of services.

3. Nursing service organizations must also define nurses’ extended role which must be
regarded as part of routine professional nursing activities and these include: providing
information to clients, giving health education to patients and families, counseling of
patients and families, planning for discharge and follow-up care and participating in
research.

agenda Seven

Nursing’s future plan must include the positioning of degree nurses at the bedside i.e,
in the clinical setting providing direct high quality care to clients. To retain degree nurses in
the clinical setting, there must exist a clinical structure (similar to medicine), where nurses
can rise both in pay and power while remaining in the clinical setting and a conducive
environment that makes it possible for them to make bedside nursing a “destination
career”. The clinical ladder will provide a new focus for the nursing profession where
nurses do not have to change direction, either towards management or teaching in order to
gain profesional recognition.
Strategies
1. By 2012, the Malaysian Academy of Nursing with the support of the Ministry of
Higher Education and the Ministry of Health will make a proposal to the Public
Services Department (JPA) on the need for a Clinical Service Structure as a justifiable
means to make bedside nursing a “destination career” for the bachelor of nursing
graduates. The Clinical Service Structure should enable the professional nurse to rise
from a starting salary of U41 to U52 with only an additional postgraduate certificate
or diploma in nursing (in a specialty area). Within the same structure, the professional
nurse could aim at gaining a salary beyond U52 by completing a Master’s degree in
Nursing (in a specialty area) to occupy the position of a Clinical Nurse Specialist and
later the position of Clinical Nurse Consultant, with a Doctorate in Nursing (Please
see Figure 2).

2. The Ministry of Health and Ministry of Higher Education at the earliest possible time
must ensure that only nurses with a Master’s degree in Nursing (in a clinical specialty)
occupy the position of the Clinical Nurse Specialist whose responsibilities include the
provision of leadership in patient care, research and teaching in the clinical setting.