Ten years of nurse-initiated antiretroviral treatment in South Africa: A narrative review of enablers and barriers

Southern African Journal of HIV Medicine

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Ten years of nurse-initiated antiretroviral treatment in South Africa: A narrative review of enablers and barriers
 
Creator Crowley, Talitha Mokoka, Elizabeth Geyer, Nelouise
 
Subject Nursing; Primary Health Care nurse-initiated; NIMART; South Africa; antiretroviral treatment; enablers; barriers
Description Background: The roll out of nurse-initiated and managed antiretroviral treatment (NIMART) was implemented in 2010 by the National Department of Health (NDoH) in South Africa in response to the large numbers of persons living with HIV who needed treatment. To enable access to treatment requires shifting the task from doctors to nurses, which had its own challenges, barriers and enablers.Objectives: The aim of this narrative is to review content on the implementation of NIMART in South Africa over the period 2010–2020, with a focus on enablers and barriers to the implementation.Method: A comprehensive search of databases, namely, PubMed, Google Scholar and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), yielded qualitative, quantitative and mixed-method studies that addressed various topics on NIMART. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were set and 38 publications met the inclusion criteria for the review.Results: Training, mentorship, tailored tuberculosis (TB) and HIV guidelines, integration of services and monitoring and support have enabled the implementation of NIMART. This resulted in increased knowledge and confidence of nurses to initiate patients on antiretroviral treatment (ART) and decreased time to initiation and loads on referral facilities. Barriers such as non-standardised training, inadequate mentoring, human resource constraints, health system challenges, lack of support and empowerment, and challenges with legislation, policy and guidelines still hinder NIMART implementation.Conclusion: Identifying barriers and enablers will assist policymakers in implementing a structured programme for NIMART in South Africa and improve access, as well as the training and mentoring of professional nurses, which will enhance their competence and confidence.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor N/A
Date 2021-03-11
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Narrative literature review
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/sajhivmed.v22i1.1196
 
Source Southern African Journal of HIV Medicine; Vol 22, No 1 (2021); 13 pages 2078-6751 1608-9693
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://sajhivmed.org.za/index.php/hivmed/article/view/1196/2310 https://sajhivmed.org.za/index.php/hivmed/article/view/1196/2309 https://sajhivmed.org.za/index.php/hivmed/article/view/1196/2311 https://sajhivmed.org.za/index.php/hivmed/article/view/1196/2308
 
Coverage South Africa 2010-2020 Literature review - NIMART nurses
Rights Copyright (c) 2021 Talitha Crowley, Elizabeth Mokoka, Nelouise Geyer https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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