| dc.description.abstract | Continuing professional development (CPD) is education offered by professional organizations and bodies with an aim of up-dating the knowledge, skills and expertise of practicing members of the concerned professions, with a view to improving the quality of service delivery. Continuing professional development connotes sub-set of adult education that seeks to positively link the needs and aspirations of individuals with educational and professional activities, for development of their potentialities, and for socioeconomic and political development of a nation or state. Despite the adoption of CPD in Kenya, the conformity to the CPD guidelines of Nursing council of Kenya is still inadequate as quality nursing and competence has been observed to occasionally fail to meet the stipulated standards. This study aimed at evaluating adherence to continuing professional development guidelines of Nursing Council of Kenya. More specifically, to determine adherence to continuing professional development guidelines of Nursing Council of Kenya by the nurse practitioners and CPD providers, and determine CPD adherence by Meru County Government nurses in accordance to Nurses Act Cap 257 section 11(4) of the Laws of Kenya. The study was carried out in Meru County using a descriptive survey research design. Fisher's et al (1998) formula was used to draw a sample size of 276 respondents. Data was collected from the CPD providers, nurses and health administrators in the County Government of Meru. Only nurse practitioners who had worked in Meru County for more than one year were interviewed. Data were analysed using appropriate programmes (SPSS Version 22). The raw data was cleaned, coded and computer entry file created. Descriptive statistics and correlation analysis were used to determine the relations between variables. This study revealed that (25%) of the respondents were not aware of the training needed to improve adherence to CPD guidelines. The study also revealed that the County was having quite a number of nurses (35%) who had not undertaken any courses to improve their nursing practice. This study findings further revealed that there exists gap in nurse-practitioners and CPD providers adherence to NCK CPD guidelines. Also, Meru County does not fully conform to monitoring CPD activities as outlined by the Council. It is, therefore, concluded that CPD activities in Meru County still need reforms to enhance adherence. To enhance adherence to CPD guidelines, the council should ensure that it has officers in the county to enhance coordination and rolling of the CPD activities. Also, there should be strict mechanisms to ensure that nurse's licensure follows the due procedure. The council may introduce online documentation of CPD activities as opposed to the paper to fill the gap of nurses who are not attaining 40 points of CPD trainings per year. The county government should also embrace the appraisal mechanisms and ensure that the chosen fits the context and current situation | en_US |
