The history of nursing education in Senegal

Abstract

The Republic of Senegal (hereinafter referred to as “Senegal”) became independent from its former colonial master, the Republic of France in 1960 and formed a democracy. Operations of nursing schools that had been established under the colonial rule were taken over by the Senegal government after the independence. Though having been influenced strongly by French nursing education system, they has developed uniquely and now grown to leading nursing schools of francophone West African countries.
The objective of this manuscript is to focus on nurses that account to the largest number of healthcare workers in Senegal and to trace the historical transition of Senegal's nursing education. The research methods are collection of reference materials, classification of contents, and interviews. As a result, we found that a visiting nursing school established in 1922 is the oldest public nursing school and a total of eight public schools had been established before the independence. The Senegal government laid down National Economic and Society Development Planning and set forth measures for healthcare problems as a priority issue, and has concentrated on nursing education since the independence in 1960. In 1992, the former Ministry of Social Health Activity established the National School of Health and Social Development by integrating 14 public schools related to health welfare. In 2003, it started a practical nurse training program aimed at increasing of the number of nurse graduates and decentralizing nursing education. In 2010, the nursing education standard was revised to improve the quality of nursing education and it will be applied to all nursing schools hereafter.
The need for strengthening management of human resource development and ensuring the quality of that by using the estimates of nurse supply and demand and the like can be suggested as future tasks for the nursing education in Senegal.