Strategic measures embraced to improve nursing education

Jan 17, 2017 News

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– but political opposition concerned about 2016 breached exam
The importance of nurses in the delivery of health care cannot be underestimated. Moreover, the Ministry of Public Health has been paying keen attention to training these professionals at varying levels.
In 2016, a total of 494 students graduated from the field of nursing. This included 312 professional nurses, 91 nursing assistants, 72 post-basic midwives and 19 single trained midwives.
There is a current enrollment of 716 persons in the field of nursing with 119 for clinical and technical programmes.
This is according to information recently disseminated by the Ministry of Public Health which has reportedly been directing deliberate efforts to continually ensuring that nurses are exposed to quality training. It was revealed that last year, 26 nursing tutors/clinical instructors successfully completed a 24 weeks basic certificate in nursing education.
Also in June 2016, the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) facilitated the participation of Guyana in a regional workshop intended to review a draft proposal of the core competencies of nursing educators in the region.
Former Minister of Public Health, Dr. George Norton, said that the workshop provided an opportunity to identify the gaps in the educational preparation of the local educators and also served to create partnerships with the regional body.
It was on the heels of this meeting, Dr. Norton said, that a group was invited to visit Brazil to explore opportunities for higher education for nursing tutors. In response, a three-man team visited the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil to explore opportunities for post-graduate education for nursing tutors.
Thirteen scholarships were offered to the team (eight Masters Degrees and five at the doctoral degree level). The programmes are expected to commence in September this year.
Added to this, three nursing students and one nursing tutor participated in an exchange visit to the St. Joseph University of Connecticut, United States. The visit provided valuable opportunities for the participants to share their experiences in the area of nursing education and practice.
Part of the Ministry’s efforts during the past year included moves by its Health Sciences Division activating an old agreement with PAHO to provide low cost textbooks and other teaching and learning resource materials.
The aim, Dr. Norton said, was to adequately equip learning resource centres and laboratories. This tactic, he noted, allowed for timely sourcing of materials for the nursing schools and also for individual purchases for students.
Training in the public health sector is provided for nurses through the three national schools located in Georgetown, Linden, and New Amsterdam. Expansion works on the latter mentioned nursing school commenced last year and according to Minister Norton this additional space will result in two new classrooms, a new learning laboratory and two new lavatory facilities.
A new hostel for student nurses is also under construction in the school compound of the New Amsterdam school of nursing. This facility will accommodate 25 students from the far flung areas in the region, Dr. Norton revealed.
While a number of measures were introduced to improve nursing in 2016, there were, however, challenges that faced nurses in training. Among these challenges, according to former Health Minister George Norton, was the overcrowding in classrooms due to large class sizes. But he assured, even before his recent move to the Ministry of Social Cohesion, that “this hurdle is gradually being addressed by reducing the number of new students in each class.”
There was also a shortage of basic textbooks but the former Minister of Public Health, revealed that a PALTEX agreement spearheaded by PAHO and the Public Health Ministry served to guarantee that students were able to access low cost books for schools and students.
However, among the troubling developments that considerably affected nursing education during the past year was a breach in the State finals in October, 2016. This breach characterized by a leak of the examination prompted a police investigation.
According to Minister Norton, “Cabinet had made a decision to have the examining body, the General Nursing Council, go ahead with the marking of the exam papers.” However, he had noted that the Ministry was awaiting a report on the matter from the Crime Chief of the Guyana Police Force in order to make a final decision.
At a People’s Progressive Party press conference yesterday, Member of Parliament, Anil Nandlall, expressed concerns about the very examination and the fact that students have not yet been able to access their results.
Nandlall in his deliberations on the matter yesterday said, “We note that the matter involving several hundred nursing students who wrote their exams several months ago, is far from conclusion.
“These students have been told that the examinations which they wrote, several months, ago have been compromised. No one knows how or who is responsible but to date these students cannot get their results. Their lives have been put on hold for several months now. They cannot earn during this period. They are not told what the next step is. We call upon the Ministry of Public Health to conclusively address this matter…The situation is becoming unbearable for the students.”
A total of 250 Professional Nurses participated in the examination.

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