A Critical Need for Advanced Practice Nurse Education in Sub-Saharan Africa and Lessons Learned From the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Discursive Review.

Aim: To discuss the need to expand advanced practice nurse education in Sub-Saharan Africa as a strategic response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design: Discursive paper.

Method: Searching international literature in PubMed, CINAHL and Google Scholar databases, we explored the impact of COVID-19 in Sub-Saharan Africa and the advanced practice nurse role and education in the pandemic response.

Discussion: The COVID-19 pandemic served as a barrier to healthcare access and disrupted routine immunizations and care, reduced facility-based healthcare services, increased disease burden and mortality, strain and is expected to worsen the healthcare workforce shortage in Sub-Saharan Africa. The COVID-19 pandemic has further emphasised the necessity to strengthen advanced practice nurse education in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Conclusion: This discursive paper underscores the critical role of advanced practice nurse education in Sub-Saharan Africa as a proactive strategy to strengthen the healthcare workforce and systems. The lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic highlight the urgency to invest in advanced practice nurse education and training programmes in the region.

Patient or public contribution: There was no patient or public involvement in the design or drafting of this discursive paper. The authors reviewed the literature to develop a discussion about advanced nursing practice.