ICN brings expertise to simplify Nurses’ Practitioner legislation

Aug 28, 2010 News

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A manual intended to help guide the way nurses operate locally, in accordance with the proposed Nurses’ Practitioner Bill, is currently in the making and is likely to be completed within a matter of weeks. With assistance from the International Council of Nurses the process commenced earlier this week under the guidance of ICN’s Chief Executive Officer, David Benton.  This process is being undertaken with the support of the newly elected Executive Committee of the Guyana Nurses Association.
According to Executive Member, Nurse Grace Bond, the manual is important as it will serve as a guide for council members and by extension to nurses countrywide. In essence, she noted that the manual will serve to outline the duties of nurses, adding that at the moment there is no full clarity on the proposed Nurses Practitioner Bill which is designed to govern the operation of nurses locally.
“Sometimes when you read the Act the terms in which it is written is not very clear…because there are legal terms used and all nurses may not understand sometimes what ought to be done.”
With the manual in place the Nursing Council will have a blueprint to work with, thus nurses will have a clear understanding of what is expected of them as recommended by the Nurse Practitioners Bill, Bond added. “We are glad that Mr Benton is here to assist us because of his experience in this field and we need that kind of guidance at the level of the General Nursing Council,” Bond added.
The ICN is an organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, which has on board 135 member countries and represents some 13 million nurses globally. Benton, who is currently visiting Guyana for the first, revealed during an interview with this newspaper yesterday the purpose of his visit. “I am here to work with the council to look at how they can improve the processes specified within the legislation.”
Although plans are apace by the Ministry of Health to put in place the Bill by next year, the auspicious legislation in its current form does not find complete favour with the Council. Minister of Health, Dr Leslie Ramsammy, had related that the proposed Bill is intended to ensure that continued nursing education becomes compulsory rather than an optional endeavour within the local health sector. As it is, the Bill caters not only to professional nurses but also nursing assistants, nurse aids, patient care assistants, nurses with extended roles and Community Health Workers.

However, it is the view of the Council that outside of the registered nurse position the other category of health workers should not be classified under the Bill. “These are not nurses, a nurse is a person who has completed a three-year training programme of basic nursing education and is qualified and authorised to practice nursing. The only person who can ascend to the category of a nurse practitioner is a registered nurse and not these other categories,” a council member had asserted.
While the proposed Bill is seen as a step in the right direction for the most part, it was revealed that the Nursing Council had met and looked at the document and had offered some suggestions for changes. The changes, according to reports, were presented to the Minister of Health for his consideration.
But according to Benton, given the fact that so many things are changing within the health services these days there is a need for the operation of nurses to follow suit. For this reason, he noted that the processes of registration, education and examination need to be addressed.
Benton who is here at the invitation of the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation local office related his convictions that local nurses seem keen on moving forward to improve the quality of the health care system. “One of the things that we need to look at is whether or not with a changing health system and with changing needs of the population whether or not the current education programme equip people to work in that new environment.” In addition to the need for more nurses to provide health services, the ICN CEO related that there is also the need to consider the fact that the people structure is changing. “We are seeing more elderly people with quite complex care needs…We are seeing different structures in families…so the way we deliver care also needs to change,” Benton asserted.
He revealed that at the
moment his expectations for Guyana is two-fold whereby the manual in its completed form will help the day to day basis of the operation of nurses and at the same time ensure that there is commitment towards the continuing competence of nursing.  He is optimistic too that the council will be able to use the manual to engage discussions with the Ministry of Health to ensure that the new legislation takes advantage of parliamentary time, thus allowing nursing in Guyana to be reposition for optimal operation in the future.
“Right now we are looking at the first draft of the manual and we will revise it and send it back for further comment by the council. When it comes back it will be refined further…” Benton revealed.
Yesterday Benton engaged the members of the council at the Ocean View International Hotel, his second such engagement since his arrival to this country. During a meeting Wednesday Benton took the opportunity to present the Council’s President, Nurse Joan Stewart with a new certificate of membership with the ICN. Guyana became a member of ICN in 1961.

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