Dismal nursing exam results…Minister Lawrence demands sweeping policy changes to reverse trend

Mar 19, 2017 News

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The recent re-sit of the 2016 Professional Nurses State Final examination, which was administered last month, will go down in the annals of history, but not for reasons that those within the health sector will be happy to remember.

The results produced are among the worst the system has seen and, based on their analysis, officials have been able to deduce that nursing students found Paper Two of the examination the most difficult.
This aspect of the examination required that the nursing students apply higher order reasoning such as explaining and evaluating. However, based on the results of the examination, the majority of the students were incapable of higher order reasoning.
This starling disclosure was amplified by Director of the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD), Ms Jennifer Cumberbatch, and her Chief Test Development Officer, Ms. Deon Farrell.
But according to the officials, the students were able to respond well to questions demanding a recall of content.
The foregoing state of affairs was presented to Senior Minister of Public Health, Ms. Volda Lawrence, who has not been taking the dismal nursing examination failure lightly.
Based on the raw results of the examination seen by this publication, a mere 23 of the 179 candidates, who participated in the examination, were able to secure overall passes.
The original examination was administered in October of last year and there were allegations that there was a leak of the examination, thus prompting the re-sit of the examination.
It was alleged that officials within the Guyana Nursing Council were responsible for the leak, and as such, the Guyana Police Force was called in to investigate this suspicion. There have reportedly been no arrests thus far in relation to this matter.
This publication understands that Minister Lawrence met with officials responsible for nurses training within the health system, as well as officials of the Ministry of Education who were tasked with preparing, administering and marking the recent Professional Nurses State Final examination, with a view to addressing the evident shortcomings.
According to information that has been filtered to this publication, the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO), a major supporter of the country’s health sector, is less than enthusiastic by the latest high failure rate by the nurses in training. It has been revealed that Minister Lawrence will have to put up a stout defence for PAHO/WHO’s continued backing when she meets officials in Washington next week.
Given the observed downfall of the students in areas that required reasoning, Minister Lawrence has demanded that a probe commence in the teaching methodologies and strategies by nursing tutors. In fact, based on information coming out from the Ministry, pedagogical changes are expected to be highlighted among the lot of proposed changes to be submitted next month by Director of Health Sciences Education, Mr Wilton Benn.
This publication understands that it was at Friday’s meeting that Benn was mandated to prepare a blueprint of the proposed changes to improve the nursing sector which he is expected to present to Minister Lawrence in the coming month.
During the meeting, Benn committed to delivering the document and pleaded with the Public Health Minister for patience, as efforts are implemented to bring an end to what has been described as a nursing exam crisis.
Benn expressed optimism that “despite the pall of gloom hovering over the nursing sector that the latest shock can be reversed. I am convinced that we can do better.”
It was underscored at the meeting that a deep diagnosis is needed for the nursing sector, since the students’ sorry performance also has financial implications for the Public Health Ministry.
But it was emphasised that both students and faculty are demoralised by the results. As such the Ministry, according to Minister Lawrence, is willing to help fund ideas that will help students succeed in the profession and the nursing sector and permanently reverse the high failure rate among its intake.
“This is my burden,” said Minister Lawrence as she threw down the gauntlet to the Guyana Nursing Council, demanding sweeping policy changes with an eye to reverse students’ dismal performance at the exams.
Among the changes she hopes to have realised will be adherence to student-lecturer ratio; curriculum review; and re-examination of the contracts offered to nursing tutors among other changes.
“We will not have a repeat of this poor student performance,” Minister Lawrence stressed at the meeting which was held in her Brickdam, Georgetown office.
At the meeting, she suggested that the Council convenes a retreat together with tutors to help analyse the nature of the existing problem. The retreat, the Minister asserted, should double as a sort of therapy for both groups.
Meanwhile, Minister Lawrence has disclosed that her Ministry is committed to ensuring that the nursing students continue to receive stipends until they re-write the State Final exam later in the year. Lawrence premised this move on the fact that “the students had expectations and expenses when they enrolled into the professional programme.”
This is not the first occasion that nursing students have performed this poorly in recent years. In 2014, only 19 out of 267 students secured overall passes at the examination. The nursing students of this batch were admitted in 2010.
The failure rate has been a challenge for Guyana for a number of years, but Nursing Council officials have insisted that this challenge is not unique to Guyana, since it has been known to occur Region-wide.
Traditionally, local nursing students have three chances to re-sit the examinations. However, if they fail a third time they can re-take the examination as a private candidate.

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