Poor nursing education highlighted in Nat’l Assembly

Apr 11, 2012 News

The poor quality of nursing education, resulting in an 80.5 percent failure rate at the Georgetown School of Nursing, was roundly criticized in the National Assembly last evening by A Partnership for National Unity member, Dr. George Norton.
Norton, in his budget debate presentation, pointed out that in Guyana, nurses, assistant nurses and midwives are not mandated to present credits for their re-registration, they only have to pay a fee every two years.
“The Nurses and Midwives Ordinance legislation is dated sometime in the 1950s and it is time that the Minister of Health stops talking the talk and brings a draft Bill to the National Assembly to correct this situation,” he stressed.
Norton expressed hope that the over $450M that is earmarked in this year’s budget for Health Sciences Education and training would be sufficient to take the human resources capacity to where it is supposed to be, especially in the services provided by nurses.
Though there is need for more nurses in the public health sector, the quality of nurses that is being churned out is worrisome.
Norton noted that while the health sector is preparing for its greatest influx of nurses, with just fewer than 1,000 in training; the Guyana Nurses Association believes that Guyana is creating weapons of mass destructions.
He pointed out that calls by the Nurses’ Association to halt the nursing programme until the necessary issues are properly addressed are being ignored by the authorities. However, the Minister of Health, Dr. Bheri Ramsaran intends to start a new batch soon.
“In 2009 a total of 255 professional student nurses were taken in, plus the Nurse Assistants, for all these students there are 11 tutors, four of them are retirees for many years,” Norton said.
While the student ratio at its highest should be one tutor to 25 students in the classroom there are as much as over 250 nurses in various classes.
He added that there should be one tutor to 12 students in the clinical setting and one tutor to eight students in the critical areas, but many times there are no instructors to guide students in the wards.
Norton also pointed out that the Association has been critical of the inadequate facilities and deplorable environment students have to operate in. The Association had linked those conditions and the fact that many non-nursing persons in authority are making decisions, to the poor performances of the students.
He said, “They are convinced that the quality of nurses in Guyana was at a higher level in years gone by and they would really like to bring it back to where it once was, before it is too late.”
Students’ lack of interest, abusive outbursts and drug use also contribute to low performances, he noted. Norton also stressed that the inability of the Nursing School to discipline students is a matter of concern.

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Poor nursing education highlighted in Nat’l Assembly

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