REGISTERED COMMUNITY NURSE (RCN) PROGRAMME WELL EXPLAINED March 2024

REGISTERED COMMUNITY NURSE

The Registered Community Nursing (RCN) Programme is one of the three major courses offered across all the nurses training schools in Ghana. It was established in September 2013 with the aim of training multipurpose health workers for the district and sub-district levels of the health service.

It is a three-year Diploma in Community Health Nursing program which is analogous to the Registered General Nursing and Registered Midwifery programs and provides continuous professional development pathways for preventive health care.

This program is essentially Community-oriented, relevant to the health problems of the country and with the goal to increase community access to health care.

Registered Community Nursing is a three-year diploma program whose primary duties are to educate the public about health and safety-related issues, immunization, home visits and also to function as Registered Nurse (RN) when found in the hospital settings. RCNs are certified by the Nursing and Midwifery Council to practice.

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How To Become A Registered Community Nurse (RCN) 

There two ways of becoming a Registered Community Nurses. One is taking a three-year diploma course in Registred Community Nurse in any approved health training institution and passing your NMC licensing examination successfully. The other way is to upgrade your course from Community Nurses to Registered Community Nurses. You must have a minimum of 3 years of working experience as a community nurse to be able to apply for a top-up programme.

The Registered Community Nursing (RCN) graduate is committed to rendering effective nursing care to the entire population of the country.  I wish to encourage parents and guardians to send their brilliant children and wards with nursing at heart to pursue RCN education in Nurses Training College.

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Top 10 Registered Community Nurse (RCN) Careers

1. Government Departments

One place where many public health nurses may find employment is at the CHPS compound or Community clinics. Some of the things they will be involved with include child immunization programs, counseling, health promotion and mental health.

2. Military Nurse

The military is also constantly on the lookout for properly qualified Registered community nurses. Their role would be to monitor the spread of diseases, raise good health awareness and look out for hazards. Some will work on army bases in the country, others will be deployed abroad. These foreign deployments are particularly important in terms of lowering the risk of spreading infectious diseases. Salaries vary depending on the level of education. One particularly interesting fact is that members of the armed forces generally receive discounts on tuition for further education, which means it is a fantastic opportunity for those who want to achieve a higher rank in the RCN program.

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3. Maternal Clinics

Many public health nurses focus specifically on working with new mothers and their infants. Some of their roles will include doing pregnancy tests, running maternity clinics, coordinating care, providing early intervention for at-risk children, running immunization programs, supporting teen mothers and promoting breastfeeding. A large part of their role will focus on health education and referrals.

4. Communicable Diseases

Community health nurses who are involved with work on communicable diseases search for cases, do outreach work, conduct surveillance, and promote better health practices to combat the spread of diseases. They also provide support to families who are high risk or who are struggling with compliance.

5. School Health

A lot of public health nurses choose to work within schools. Their role here is to teach children on maintaining their personal health, including hygiene. They also provide vaccinations and monitor children to ensure they are not suffering from any illnesses. Furthermore, they liaise closely with Child Protection Units in dealing with at-risk children.

6. Tuberculosis Care

Tuberculosis is a rare, but very deadly disease. Community nurses who work in this field will work directly with those people who have been affected by it. They will coordinate the care they require and liaise with all other agencies that are involved. A strong focus is placed on preventing the spread of this disease.

7. Voluntary Programs

It is also not uncommon for a public health nurse to become involved in voluntary programs. Some good examples include the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders. These nurses will be sent to areas where disasters have taken place and the health of the populations are at risk.

8. Outbreak Prevention

A very varied career option for a public health nurse is to work on outbreak prevention. Some of these nurses will be employed by the CDC, others will work directly with other disease prevention organizations. A strong focus will be placed on regular outbreaks, such as the winter NORO virus or the summer West Nile virus. Additionally, they will be deployed when there are other outbreaks of infectious diseases, such as the Ebola virus.

9. Health Education

Some Registered Community nurses work solely in health education. This means they do not deal directly with people who have direct health needs. Instead, they work at fairs and other public seminars, providing people with information and guidance on health issues they may encounter and how to prevent them.

10. Refugee Care

A final career that must be noted in the top 10 is working with refugees. These people often have particular health needs due to the conditions in their country of origin, or the conditions they experienced during their journey out of their country. These people also often have limited knowledge on how to prevent the spread of diseases and have never been given the tools to ensure they can maintain their own health and hygiene.

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