Author(s)

Ester Newaka¹, Louise Pretorius², Lukas Matati Josua^3*

¹Department of General Nursing Science, University of Namibia, Oshakati, Namibia.
²School of Nursing and Public Health, University of Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia.
³Department of Higher Education and Lifelong Learning, University of Namibia, Oshakati, Namibia.

Changes in healthcare environment require nurses to go through Continuing Professional Development in order to remain competent and skillful when responding to challenges in the field. Therefore, Continuing Professional Development is an active and proactive systematic maintenance, improvement, and broadening of knowledge and skills, and the development of personal qualities necessary for executing professional and technical duties throughout the individual’s working life. This study aims to determine the factors influencing registered nurses’ compliance with Continuing Professional Development requirements at a selected hospital in Oshana Region, Namibia. The study is anchored on the following research questions: 1) What factors prevent registered nurses’ compliance with Continuing Professional Development requirements? 2) What are the effects of compliance to Continuing Professional Development requirements on registered nurses’ professional practice? 3) What are the strategies that could improve nurses’ compliance with Continuing Professional Development requirements? The study adopted a quantitative, cross-sectional, descriptive survey design for registered nurses at a selected hospital in Oshana Region. From the population of 318 registered nurses, a simple random sampling was used to select 177 respondents repre- senting a 95% confidence level and a confidence interval of ±5% to capture valid and reliable information. Data were analyzed using both the SPSS version 24, Microsoft excel 2012 version. The main findings of this study are such as the shortage of staff, lack of hospital support, professional growth, and networking as some of the factors that influence registered nurses’ compliance to Continuing Professional Development requirements. The study recommended that hospital management should support Continuing Professional Development attendance and collaboration among the stakeholders.

Continuing Professional Development, Registered Nurses, Healthcare, So-cial Learning

Newaka, E. , Pretorius, L. and Josua, L. (2022) Re-Thinking Factors Influencing Registered Nurses’ Compliance to Continuing Professional Development Requirements at a Selected Hospital in Oshana Region, Namibia. Creative Education, 13, 3889-3903. doi: 10.4236/ce.2022.1312249.