The Nursing Department at Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP) has recently launched the nursing internship program targeting nursing graduates. This program is considered one of the prerequisites for enrollment in the practice licensing exam for nursing profession in the UAE.
The nursing internship spring edition started beginning of September 2019 and will run up to February 2020 for 6 consecutive months. It included enrollment of 20 nursing graduates holding Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree earned from various universities in UAE.
Prior to the launch of the spring edition, a 5-day orientation program was held for all enrolled graduates. It included introducing them to the requirements of the program, holding a meeting with their mentors, and introducing them to the health information system at MOHAP, in collaboration with the Department of Health Information Systems.
Preparation for the Practice Licensing Exam of Nursing Profession
Dr. Sumaya AlBlooshi, Director of Nursing – MOHAP, stated that the nursing internship program aims to provide structured supervised clinical training for interested nursing graduates from accredited programs of Bachelor of Science in Nursing offered by various universities in the country. The supervision is exercised by qualified mentors and led by professional development nurses in each MOHAP hospital. The internship rotation plan includes training in various clinical nursing specialties which are medical nursing, surgical nursing, pediatric nursing and selected specialized nursing care areas within defined timeframe.
In addition, the program curriculum includes conducting clinical reasoning workshops and focus training to prepare the nursing interns for the nursing practice licensing exam. It also includes assessing and validating the initial nursing competencies following Donna Wright competency framework.
Nursing as Strategic Profession
Dr. Sumaya AlBlooshi emphasized that MOHAP pays great attention to enhance the attractiveness of nursing profession, as it is one of the most important strategic and key profession in the healthcare systems. Nurses play an important role in preventive, care and management of chronic and infectious diseases.
MOHAP, therefore, aims to increase the percentage of Emiratisation in the nursing profession, in order to provide distinguished healthcare, appropriate to the environment and culture of the UAE community. This requires constant improvement of nursing practices and career paths to meet the best international standards.
