WHO Government Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officers Roles and Responsibilities

WHO CC involvement: Michele Rumsey and Professor Jill White

Extending from the WHO Global Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer Forum and the Global Leadership Collaborative, in collaboration with Sydney University, the WHO CC UTS has furthered the work of the Roles and Responsibilities Self-Assessment Tool for Government Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officers (GCNMO).

In line with the South Pacific Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officers Alliance (SPCNMOA) work plan, a capacity building tool was developed to enable GCNMOs to identify those areas in which competencies are strong and those areas in which professional development may be helpful. It is based on the WHO CC UTS: A GCNMO Consensus Statement Roles and Responsibilities of the Government Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer, and constructed using two scales for each skill area. This enables scores to be tracked on both performance in an area and also on importance of this element to the GCNMO position.

The Self-Assessment Tool was disseminated at the SPCNMOA biennial meeting in November 2013 where all the Chief Nurses and Midwives completed and discussed the many facets of the roles and responsibilities of leadership. This will further their own knowledge of the roles and responsibilities of their role within their own country and the region. As a living document it was further disseminated and reviewed in 2014.

The World Health Organization has published The Roles and Responsibilities of Government Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officers in 2016.

This document addresses the roles and responsibilities of Government Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officers (GCNMOs) in response to their perceived need for a reference document. The document covers definitions of roles and responsibilities, description and discussion of these roles and responsibilities and expansion of the consensus statement developed by GCNMOs in WHO global forums as well as reflections on country case studies in relation to GCNMO roles and responsibilities. It also presents the competency framework with descriptions of its components. The content of this document can assist in the application of knowledge and effective behaviours at work, as well as in identifying flexible and appropriate learning opportunities.