Plans apace to make professional nurses certificate degree programme

Dec 21, 2017 News

Moves are being made to move the Professional Nursing programme from merely a certificate programme to a full-fledged degree programme.
Information in this regard has been forthcoming from the Ministry of Public Health and comes even as plans are apace to reduce the excessively large intake numbers to the various nursing programmes.
Reports suggest that a move in this direction is intended to ensure that tutors are able to pay greater attention on quality training and quality of graduates yielded from the nursing programmes.
As such, efforts will be made to not only develop training programmes for the health workers but also to strengthen the management capacity.
The Ministry of Public Health is working to boost the capacity of “our nurse leaders and educators by exposing them to higher education at the Master’s and doctoral levels through scholarship programmes – even as we partner with our sister countries.”
Addressing this development recently was Minister of Public Health, Ms. Volda Lawrence.
In fact it has been revealed that a strategic plan is in the making to focus on continuous development of nursing leaders and educators so that they can continue to promote quality education and service. Such measures, reports suggest, are linked to Government’s recognition that the professional nurses’ curriculum is a significant tool in this process.
Although it has been developed to incorporate recent trends in nursing education regionally, health officials are convinced that there is still need to ensure that the content of the nursing programme is delivered in a standardized way across all the schools of nursing in Guyana.
This move, Minister Lawrence is convinced, will be strongly supported.
This, she said, will see in each local setting, the Ministry of Public Health applying its human resource plan to close the gaps between demand and supply of health human resource – especially in the teaching arena and with the assistance of donor and technical partners.
“We will strengthen the management and capacity of the nursing education system,” Minister Lawrence recently told the National Assembly.
In fact she made it clear that “addressing policies and regulations that govern this noble profession will be top priorities for the upcoming year.”
It was only recently that Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, Dr. Emanuel Cummings revealed that plans are apace to realise international accreditation for the Bachelor’s of Nursing programme offered at the University of Guyana [UG].
But accrediting the nursing programme, according to the Dean, will more than likely require more than simply putting measures in place at UG. He explained that since the nursing programme does not fall entirely under the university, “we will have to assume control of it.”
Currently, the Bachelors in nursing programme offered at UG is the final stage of a programme administered by the Ministry of Public Health and the privately-operated St. Joseph Mercy Hospital.
“After completing the Diploma aspect of that programme, candidates would come over to UG for two years to get their Bachelor’s Degree,” said Dr. Cummings.
But according to him, “for us to even consider having the nursing programme accredited, UG will have to run the entire programme from the very first year…we will have to have complete control of the programme.”
Another programme that UG will support the Public Health Ministry to offer is a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Health Nursing. The programme is one that has been approved by the University’s Academic Board and will be shortly rolled out, according to Dr. Cummings.
“This programme is intended to train individuals who will help to address the issues related to maternal and child health,” he said.

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