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WHO IS IN CHARGE OF NURSING?

Jul 24, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor,

As an executive member of the Guyana Nurses Association (GNA), I take this particular time to ask a few questions of the public so they may be the judge. Nurses for too long have been silent on issues that have affected them over the years either out of loyalty to the profession or the patient. The largest group of health care personnel is the nurses in any country of the world; this is no different in Guyana or at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).
The attack on nursing started some time ago when there was a plan to flood the Schools of Nursing with individuals qualified or not with the intention to mass produce. Sad to say that experiment failed miserably.
The Nursing Council has the evidence to prove this. Then the attack continued where in the highest office of the land, a plan was crafted to take away the building donated to nurses for their training and hand it to the doctors for resting quarters.
The faceless and nameless planners continued their attack by removing the Chief Nurse and her deputy from their offices and relocating them to a place not suitable for their roles and functions.
The replacement in their office was a doctor. The Chief Nurse in any country is the highest office of nursing in the land. Today another situation has raised its ugly head and has been gaining strength secretly in the guise of specialist nursing at the GPHC.
Nursing administration and nurses at the GPHC support specialized training for nurses but do the laws of the Guyana and by extension, the laws of the General Nursing Council support speciality? If so to what extent? What is specialized nursing? Is it earned after a three-day workshop?
Does the specialist nurse receive a certificate for such that can be taken any part of the world to identify the nurse as an expert? What reimbursement if any is offered to the specialist nurse? Is there room for upward mobility in this specialized area or at the institution where the specialized nurse provides his or her services?
Where are the nurses to be had for this specialized training? Guyana is building a speciality hospital will we adjust the laws, train and certify nurses in areas like cardiology, diabetic foot care or ophthalmology or will we import like the private hospitals?
As the attack continued; we ask- who is in charge of the nurse? There is the need for a serious conversation, and it must involve the nurses at every level since the nurse knows the profession best.
To become a nurse, it requires three plus years of training, in a recognised educational institution, success at the General Nursing Council licensed examination and registration with the Council. The many years of practice at various levels in the profession aptly prepare the nurse.
Nursing is in crisis because non-nursing personnel have been making all the decisions for nursing and excluded the nurse amongst others. Why create animosity between the doctors and the nurses? They are all part of the same team but each with their unique roles and functions.
Where is the nameless, faceless beast that wants nursing to fail at the GPHC and nursing services to be managed by doctors? Bring back the team effort where the patient is the center of the care because as nurses – We Care!
Cleopatra Barkoye RN.
Executive Member
Guyana Nurses Association

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