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Ivy Sackey, Ph.D. is a 2022 graduate of the PHD Program in Leadership and Change at Antioch University.

Ivy Sackey at her Dissertation Defense.

From L-R: Dr. S. Aqeel Tirmizi, Committee Chair, Dr. Elizabeth Holloway, Committee Member, Dr. Mary A. Esirifi, Committee Member.

Dissertation Committee

  • S. Aqeel Tirmizi, Ph.D., Committee Chair
  • Elizabeth Holloway, Ph.D., Committee Member
  • Mary A. Esirifi, Ph.D., MN, RN Committee Member

Keywords

Ghana, preceptorship, midwifery, nursing, health care training, leadership situational analysis

Document Type

Dissertation

Publication Date

2022

Abstract

Preceptors play a vital role in supporting nursing/midwifery students and new employees’ transition and assimilation into their new role. Furthermore, with the increasing focus on educating more qualified nurses and midwives to meet health-related United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, there is a need for a more standardized and coordinated approach to preceptorship training. As former Head of the Nursing/Midwifery Training Institution in Ghana, I observed first-hand that the system of preceptorship needs improvements. Published literature on preceptorship has shown that the practice plays a vital role in healthcare delivery. However, most of the existing literature preceptorship is from developed countries, with little research from developing countries like Ghana. This study explored the practice of preceptorship in selected nursing/midwifery and healthcare institutions in Ghana. Situational analysis was used to examine the complex dynamics of the preceptorship program. It consists of three main procedural tools: situational maps, social worlds/arenas maps, and positional maps. Several important factors were found to impact preceptorship in Ghana. Key ones were motivational (monetary) challenges, lack of training of preceptors, politicking related to the development of preceptorship manuals, supervision, and outdated procedure guidelines for on-the-job teaching students. The study offers a series of recommendations to improve preceptorship practice at micro, meso, and macro levels. Additionally, they may enable regulators and policy makers in Ghana to formulate policies leading to a more robust preceptorship program to strengthen the skills of nursing/midwifery profession. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

Comments

Ivy E. Sackey

ORCID Scholar ID #: #0000-0003-3600-4401

Dr. Ivy Efua Sackey is a Fellow of the West African College of Nursing/Midwifery, a capacity builder, teacher, and an inspiring leader who is passionate about women’s health, reproductive, maternal, and child health issues. Ivy is married with three children. She was born in a small town called Swedru, located in the central region of Ghana. Even at a young age, Ivy took great delight in helping others, so it came as no surprise when she discovered that nursing would be her calling. After completing secondary school, she gained admission to the Cape Coast Nursing College in 1984, completed the program in 1987, and obtained a license as a State Registered Nurse. After working for a year, she then proceeded to pursue a one-year midwifery course at Korle-Bu, which she completed in 1989 and was then awarded a license as a State Registered Midwife. After gaining extensive clinical experience as a senior staff nurse/midwife in Ghana’s largest hospitals (Komfo Anokye in Kumasi and Korle-Bu teaching hospitals in Accra), she decided to continue her education at the University of Cape Coast to enhance the teaching she was providing in the clinical area. This tilt transitioned her from hands on clinical work to educating and mentoring students and nurses/midwifery professionals in the classroom on pediatrics, obstetrics /maternal health issues, and pharmacology, among others. Extensive lecturing drew her closer to students sharing their experiences during clinical supervision and piqued her interest in preceptorship. From 2005 – 2006, she pursued and successfully completed a master’s program in Population and Reproductive Health, International Health, at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, Scotland. Ivy taught in the Sekondi Nurses and Midwifery Training Colleges (NMTC), after her QMU studies, continued teaching in Korle-Bu Nurses/ Midwifery Training College during which she trained and mentored over three thousand nurses/midwives. Ivy was the chairperson of the Maternal and Child Health faculty of the West African College of Nursing/Midwifery (WACNM) between 2009-2015, and then, substantive secretary of the Ghana chapter of WACNM from 2007 to 2009. Ivy has conducted research, written papers, presented speeches, and her interest in researching preceptorship stems from the experience gained while teaching at the training colleges and from working as the Head of the Nursing/Midwifery Training Institutions unit at the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Ghana. Through visiting hospitals and clinics used by the training colleges, Ivy observed several issues with the process of clinical supervision, which revealed a broken system. Some of these issues included the preceptorship programs that were supervised by the department, but which were not well established. Her aim in pursuing the research for her dissertation was to help identify and understand the problems with the preceptorship program in detail in order to improve the program. Through her PhD program, Ivy has been able to make huge strides in this endeavor and is currently sharing her findings with the relevant bodies in Ghana.

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