Nursing Training in Ghana: What’s Involved? (2022)

Since the last decade, Ghana has made a lot of changes to how they train nurses. At the beginning of the 2000s, most nurses who had been trained in Ghana moved to other countries in search of better jobs.

The nurses left because they didn’t have good places to learn, they didn’t make enough money, and nursing was becoming less important.

In order to improve the nursing field, the government stopped nurses from leaving the country and paid for their education if they agreed to work in the country for five years. There were also places to get training, and nursing was once again a well-paying job.

Nursing training in Ghana

There are now a lot of schools in Ghana that teach nurses how to do their jobs and responsibilities.

In this article, we’ll look at what it takes to become a nurse in Ghana, as well as the training you’ll need to become a registered nurse.

Who are Nurses?

Nurses are trained professionals who have finished a nursing program and met the government’s minimum requirements to get a nursing license. They help doctors and other healthcare workers in hospitals, clinics, and other medical settings.

Most of the time, they take care of patients and make sure their needs are met until they get better. Geriatric nurses take care of patients and also look after the needs of people who are getting older or are already old.

How Nurses Work

Nurses can be put into different groups based on how well-trained they are and what kind of work they do.

Here is a list of nurses based on what they are qualified to do.

LPN stands for “Licensed Practical Nurse.” LPNs are nurses who have a diploma in practical nursing. These nurses work closely with registered nurses to gain experience before moving up in their careers.

By getting a bachelor’s degree, an LPN can become a registered nurse.
Registered Nurse (RN): Registered Nurses are the main nurses who take care of patients and make sure their needs are met.

Nurse-midwives help with family planning, prenatal care, and delivering babies. The women and their babies are cared for by these nurses. They also teach mothers and babies about health, nutrition, and how to avoid getting sick. Most of the time, these nurses have a Master’s degree or higher.

Nurse Practitioners are the highest level of nurses. Health care centers, offer high-level care.
What a nurse does

Here are the specific jobs that a nurse in Ghana does in most healthcare centers, clinics, hospitals, and other medical organizations.

In Ghana, nurses must do the following:

Write down a patient’s health history
Write down the signs of the illness
Check on someone’s health.
Record improvements/signs during patient care
Diagnose and test patients
Help patients prevent diseases and illnesses.
Help people with small health issues
Promote the well-being of people.
Give medicine to a patient or write a prescription for them. Help people learn about different diseases, and illnesses, and how to prevent and treat them.
Take care of a patient’s physical needs.
Work as a person who runs the medical machines.
Help and support the sick person
Give suggestions for living a healthy life.

What Does Nursing Training Look Like in Ghana?

Most of the time, the type of nursing training depends on the school, the school’s facilities, and the type of nursing program the person wants to join.

Nurses are trained to look after patients, teach them about health, check their vital signs, and make sure the patient gets better.

The first year of nurse training at a university usually takes place at the school. As the students learn more, they go to hospitals and other healthcare centers where they learn how to take care of real patients.

Most nursing exams are hard because the nurse is expected to know a lot about health care protocols, drugs, how they work, and how to give them to patients.

Some exams are hands-on, and the nurses have to take care of a patient for a set amount of time. A score is given based on how well the nurse did her job.

Nurses who complete the training and do well get registered and licensed to work in Ghana’s health care centers.

Salary of nurses in Ghana (estimated)

Most nurses in Ghana make less than $400 a month. This amount is before taxes, and after taxes, most nurses get less money.

With the cost of living going up, this amount may not be enough for most nurses to meet their needs. This makes them want to move to other countries.

Luckily, there have been a number of good steps taken to give nurses the respect they deserve. In Ghana, there are already more than 20,000 nurses working in all parts of the country.

This job is still the most respected and sought-after job in the country.

Nursing Schools in Ghana

There are a number of accredited nursing schools in Ghana. These schools have the qualified teachers and teaching facilities needed to train nurses who can do their jobs well. Some of these schools for nurses are

Holy Family Colleges of Nursing and Midwifery

This college offers the following classes:

General Nursing
Nursing in the community
Environmental health informatics and therapy course

The Koforidua Nurses and Midwifery Training College trains nurses and midwives.

The following classes can be taken at Koforidua Training College:

Assistant in Clinical Health Nursing Midwifery Community Health Nursing General Nursing
The 37th Military Hospital Nurse’s Training College for Mental Nursing and Critical Care Nursing