Helping Nigeria Track Certification and Licensing of Nurses and Midwives

CapacityPlus is working closely with the West African Health Organization to support the implementation of iHRIS Qualify—a health professional certification and licensing system—for the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria.

Professor Kayode Odusote, director for HR development at the West African Health Organization, traveled to Nigeria to conduct a site survey in order to obtain information on the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s existing information systems, collect feedback from staff on the ability of iHRIS Qualify to meet the Council’s needs, and identify challenges to implementation.

Professor Odusote and the team found that the Council’s processes are largely paper-based. Registration is handled manually and information is kept in 19 different physical registries. While there are two separate information systems to support indexing and some aspects of licensing, these systems are not linked, the information is not complete, and there is a limited verification process. Both systems were developed by a local vendor who has sole access to the development code and permission to download data. Also, the current systems have no reporting function, which means all statistical information is generated manually and then compiled using Excel.

Interviewees desired several changes to the current system. They’d like integration of the systems to improve accuracy, online access to all records, and improved reporting functions. They suggested several customizations to iHRIS Qualify, such as online submission of applications, the ability to view previously-saved passport photos for verification, and the ability to produce reports that meet specific needs of the Council.

Professor Odusote is now working with CapacityPlus’s developers to customize two appliances for the Council. The plan is to install them in the Council’s offices in Lagos and Abuja as part of the first phase of the computerization of the Council’s registration functions before the end of September.
 

Photo by Trevor Snapp