Hybrid FNP Education in Haiti: An International Collaboration Model

Objective: Haiti has the most dire health statistics in the Western Hemisphere. Yet there is little primary care.  Outside the capital, almost 90% of care is provided by nurses; the nurses have only a diploma-level education.  The objective of this project is to educate Haitian nurses in a Master’s Degree program to become family nurse practitioners. 

Content Outline:  Faculty from rge School of Nursing visited Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.   They found that the state of nursing, nursing education and health in Haiti were in need of repair. The greatest need was for primary care.  Yet the highest level of education in Haitian Schools of Nursing was a diploma.

The faculty formed a non-profit organization, Promoting Health in Haiti, which worked collaboratively with nursing leaders in Haiti and the Chancellor of the University of Haiti and the Ministry of Health.  We started the program with graduates of a private baccalaureate program in Haiti, in collaboration with the Episcopal University of Haiti (UNEPH) and the Faculté des Sciences Infirmières de l’Université Episcopale d’Haïti (FSIL) in Léogâne, where the program takes place.  This is the first Nursing Masters and NP program in Haiti.

We developed a curriculum that incorporates the AACN Master’s Essentials for FNPs.  The course content reflects the health needs of Haiti.  In addition, students will receive training in prenatal care and emergency delivery, to address Haiti’s exorbitant rate of maternal and infant mortality.  Twenty students are enrolled in the program.  It is a hybrid program with long weekend (4 days) intensive in-person instruction monthly followed by online-instruction to complete the requirements for a 3-credit course.   Haitian American nurse educators go to Léogâne to teach.  Clinicals will be in Haitian clinics, supervised by Haitian physicians and Haitian American FNPs who provide care in Haiti.   The curriculum includes two courses in pedagogy; so graduates will be able to teach and the program will be self-sustaining.

Future plans include an online Associate degree to BS program for Haitian nurses, who will then be able to apply to the FNP program.