The Registrar of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) of Ghana, Mrs Philomina Adjoa Nyarkoa Woolley, has announced the introduction of a new competency-based academic curriculum for the training of nurses and midwives across the country.
Addressing staff and students of the Midwifery Training College in Bolgatanga during her three-day working visit to health training institutions and healthcare facilities in the Upper East Region, Mrs Woolley explained that the new curricula would replace the traditional objective test-based system currently used in nursing and midwifery training.
She said the new approach focuses on three key components: content, skill and attitude aimed at producing well-rounded professionals. “For instance, if it is how to dress a wound of a patient, the students will learn the knowledge, that is the content; then they will learn about the skill, how to dress the wound; and the attitude, how to speak to the patient,” she noted.
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Mrs Woolley added that the curricula would feature more practical sessions than theoretical ones, with references provided after every course to encourage further reading. Students will undertake six main examinations covering mental health nursing, public health, surgery and surgical nursing, medicine and medical nursing.
She emphasised that the new curricula were designed to meet international standards, enabling Ghanaian-trained nurses and midwives to compete globally. “When our students go abroad and they ask, ‘ Did you do medicine? We say it is in the general paper, but they are usually not sure. So we want to go back to what we used to do,” she said, adding that many students aspire to work in the United Kingdom and the United States.
According to the Registrar, the new curricula will be officially launched before the end of 2025. After the launch, the NMC will zone the various colleges to train tutors on the vision and implementation process to ensure effective delivery.
Madam Margaret Azusiyinne, Vice Principal of the Midwifery Training College in Bolgatanga, commended the NMC for the initiative, noting that the new system resembles the rigorous training models used in the past. She said current students often view the NMC examination as easier compared to their school’s semester exams due to the objective format, allowing many to “guess and pass.” She expressed satisfaction that the new curricula would strengthen academic and practical standards.
As part of the tour, Mrs Woolley and her team visited the Nursing Training College, Bolgatanga, and met with senior nursing and midwifery managers of the Regional Hospital before proceeding to the Regentropfen College of Applied Sciences (ReCAS) at Namoo in the Bongo District.
On the second day, the delegation visited the Community Health Training College, the War Memorial Hospital, and the Clement Kubindiwo Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences (CKT-UTAS) in Navrongo, with the tour expected to conclude at the Nursing and Midwifery Training College in Zuarungu.
