Nurses ’s involvement in health policy development in Rwanda

Abstract

Background: Nurses as a big number in the health systems have great potential to ensure that health care is harmless, excellent, easily reached and reasonable. Health policies impact health care, nurses and profession. Policy involvement includes participation in all policy level & stages and several factors predispose nurses’ competence in politics for the purpose of a dynamic influence in all health policy process. There is no evidence in Rwanda on the nurses’ contribution in policymaking and this has increased our scientific curiosity. This study was conducted with the purpose of exploring the involvement of nurses in policy change in Rwanda. This research has determined the scopes in which nurses are engaged and also have identified diverse factors associated with their involvement. Methods: A descriptive cross sectional design through a quantitative research approach was applied. Seventy-eight nurse leaders were chosen purposively by convenience where their closeness expertise as elaborated by Needham and de Loë was useful (Objective expertise, Subjective expertise, and Mandate expertise). Data collection was done through a structured interview and analyzed through the Statistical Package for Social Scientists version 21 (SPSS v21). Results: Findings in this research revealed that the engagement of nurses in policymaking in Rwanda appears limited, especially at national levels, regional and global level. Those who had participated did so at Hospital /organizational level. Most of those involved participated in policy formulation. The factors like Leaderships characteristics, Opportunity, Structures, Process was perceived by nurse leaders as facilitators or barriers in health policy development Conclusion: it is vital for nurses in Rwanda to be engaged to be facilitated in all the process of policymaking. While factors behind the phenomenon are known there is hope that in future nurse in leadership will be engaged actively in the process of policy change in Rwanda.