“A Strategic Action Plan to Enhance the Accessibility of Healthcare in Rural Areas of

Zimbabwe”

Submitted by:
Calma, David Andrei D.
Submitted to:
Vilma P. Albo, RM, RN, MAN
Date of Submission
October 13, 2020
3C – BSN
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1. Scanned copy/downloaded file/photocopy of Research Journal

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2. Outline of Research Journal

Title
A Strategic Action Plan to Enhance the Accessibility of Healthcare in Rural Areas of
Zimbabwe

Author
Mangundu, M., Roets, L., & Rensburg, V.J.

Study Population
In this study, research participants were composed of 90 registered nurses, 445 members
of the community under the included public health facilities, 5 national health directors,
and 5 members of the parliamentary portfolio committee. Each participant where
gathered though convenience sampling wherein samples were readily available.

Methodology
Building a strategic plan in terms of health care requires a thorough and precise
organization of facts and information to fill up the needs of its members. Through use of
various research methods, researchers had smoothly established a strategic plan which
was divided into 4 phases. Wherein the focus is on addressing the essential needs in terms
of the betterment of health care system in the rural areas of Zimbabwe. For phase 1, to
assess what are the presenting factors in rural areas of Zimbabwe, the researchers used
quantitative method in the form of self-administered questionnaire to get response from
the (90) nurses and its members of the community that has access to healthcare (445).
Next, for the phase 2, convenient sampling was done to gather participants under
National Health Directors wherein they had gathered 5 that has the willingness to
participate in the study. Then for the phase 3, all the collected response from phase 1
were advised on the members of national health directors (phase 2), which led to
formulation and proposal of strategic plan. Finally, in the phase 4, similar method was
used to obtain participants from the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health
(PPCH) wherein they had able to gather 5 participants. To validate the proposed strategic
plan, process was divided into 5 steps, wherein the proposal of strategic plan was
reviewed on the 1st step. While on the 2nd step, all participants of the parliamentary
portfolio committee shared their discussions on what are the essential/non-essential
factors which lead to phase 3 or the reconstruction of the proposed strategic plan. Then
for the 4th step, to ensure equity, amendments from the 3 rd step were noted by the
researchers which led to a more robust strategic plan. Lastly, the developed strategic plan
was disseminated to the 5 validated participants via email for approval and validation of
the final strategic plan.

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Summary of the Research
As seen in this study, access to health care is very limited in rural areas, not only in
their country, but also to other developing countries as well. Therefore, in order to
achieve an equal health care services to its members, according to study, formulation of
concrete and robust strategic plan is necessary as this serves as the backbone/foundation
for the health improvement not just to a community, but also the entire country. Also, this
study signifies the importance of participation and cooperation of the local and national
sectors in terms of disseminating the proper funds and passing laws for health care,
establishment of nearby health care facilities, taking care/preserving their local health
workers, and distribution of proper medical equipment and medications necessary in
rendering healthcare. Moreover, those mentioned six validated strategies for the
betterment of healthcare delivery from the study is not only applicable on their country,
but rather this can be also be applied in similar countries facing the same scenario. We do
all know that up until this current time, there are some rural areas that are not receiving
adequate monetary assistance or any kind of support coming from the local and national
government. Tendency is that, the members of its community are the one who suffer.
Without seeking proper medical attention, this may lead to a compromised health. Hence,
what this study is trying to conceive is that, there is a huge benefit if both health
department and government sector unite in terms of addressing the healthcare system and
implementing concrete projects/programs which aims the health improvement of its
community and the whole nation.

Recommendations

For this study, one of the things that I would like to recommend on the researchers is that,
in terms of building a strategic plan, I hope that they would able to mention the needs of
each specific community because we all know that one community is different to other
community. Hence, with the combination of proposed strategic plan and taking note of
the needs of the community, this will lead to a more concrete formulation of strategic
plan because factors were assessed in each community thoroughly. Medical equipment
and other materials which will be needed for providing an effective health care delivery
requires steady budget coming from both local and national sectors. Therefore, another
important recommendation is that, in each of this communities there must be a skilled or
well-trained personnel/s in terms of auditing the supply and demand of its members.
Through the help of financial auditors, this will maintain balance and rhythm in terms of
handling the financial needs of the community leading to a more systematic and
reasonable expenditures, projects and programs, compensation for its health workers, also
stored budget for disaster and risk management.

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Nursing Implications
Nursing profession is known to be one of the members of the health care team which
shares the same goal with other health workers and that is to provide health care to those
people who are in need. This study shows the importance not only to our patients, but
also to us members of the health team as well. Without the proper tools, skills,
compensation, and knowledge, we cannot render the adequate healthcare towards to our
patients. Therefore, as nurses participating in this kind of studies can have a huge impact
in terms of the betterment of healthcare system in different areas because we are able to
voice out the needs of a specific community especially in health. Even though there is a
saying that “we must utilize the available resources inside our area”, hence, we cannot
still provide an effective health services without the support of local and national sectors
especially if a certain community is lacking in terms of economic resources. Despite of
this problem, there are lots of ways in order to provide adequate healthcare and that’s
what we as nurses are capable of. With the use of this strategic plan, the overall approach
will now become more systematic and organized. Therefore, we can now maximize all
the available resources inside the community such as; rendering health teachings such as
reinforcements, demonstrations, providing free health assessments,
consultations/checkups, distribution of medications, vaccinations, minor surgeries, and
disease prevention programs to educate the members of the community on what are the
essential things that they need to know for them to preserve and attain their maximum
level of health.

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Source:
Mangundu, M., Roets, L., & Rensburg, V.J. (2020). A Strategic Action Plan to Enhance
the Accessibility of Healthcare in Rural Areas of Zimbabwe. Research Square, 1-17.
Retrieved from: https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-42087/v1

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