Continuing education for nurses in Syria

		Sector: Healthcare, Vocational Training Location: Damascus, Syria Local Partners: St Louis Hospital, the Italian Hospital, Dar al-Shifa Hospital, Ministry of Health Start of Partnership: 2008

Context and considerations

In Syria, the nurses’ lack of qualification compromises the quality of the medical services as well as the hospitals’ ability to deal with their patients. Besides, prejudices tarnish the nursing profession because they work by night and take care of the sick, both male and female.

IECD has been involved in improving nursing practices in Lebanon and Syria for 10 years. With the technical support of the Groupe Hospitalier Paris-Saint-Joseph, a training programme for the nurses has been drawn up, thanks to a methodology fully adapted to the Syrian context.

In 2009, the IECD ordered an evaluation study of the Damascene hospital practices which yielded a more accurate insight into the staff’s training needs and confirmed the appropriateness of implementing such a  training programme for the nurses in Damascus.

In February 2009, IECD signed partnership agreements with the Italian Hospital, the Saint Louis Hospital and the Dar al-Shifa Hospital in Damascus. In cooperation with experts of the Groupe Hospitalier Paris-Saint-Joseph, the project’s technical partner, a resource centre was created to implement a training programme for the nurses. The resource centre capitalises the developed expertises (training contents, devices tracking the beneficiaries’ evolution, quality monitoring tools etc.).

In 2010, 180 nurses have been trained, attending diverse modules: health and asepsis, communication within the hospital departments and dealing with the patients.

In 2011, the project will reach out to public sector hospitals (Hospital of Deraya and the Kidney Hospital), in order to guarantee a large scale improvement of the Syrian healthcare system (through an agreement with the Ministry of Health).

Besides, a curriculum adapted to the local context will bring about the implementation of a new diploma “Training of the Trainers” within the Ministry of Health, to ensure the perennial impact of current activities. Hôpital Sainte-Anne, Paris is the technical partner for this new diploma.