Latest update February 6th, 2025 7:27 AM
Extensive work plugged into nursing programme reform – Consultant
Nurses are and will continue to be an important asset to any health care system. It was for this reason that the Public Health Ministry could not have taken lightly some glaring shortcomings in its Professional Nurses programme.
Among those who stood resolutely in the gap to transform the nursing programme was Ms. Mandy La Fleur.
Serving in the capacity as a consultant, La Fleur, with the support of other experts within the health field, engaged tactical measures that saw drastic improvement in the candidates’ performances at the most recent sitting of the Professional Nurses programme.
This would mark the second such tactical intervention which allowed the country to record outstanding academic outcomes. The other was the intervening measures that were introduced by the Ministry of Education to address the failing Mathematics performance at the National Grade Six Assessment [NGSA].
That intervention came as a directive from President David Granger and was aimed at putting measures in place to help both teachers and pupils incorporate measures designed to improve how Mathematics is taught, and in turn, internalised by the pupils. The outcome was an improved pass rate in Mathematics moving from 14 percent in 2016 to a respectable 46 percent in 2017.
Stressing the importance of such strategic intervening measures, La Fleur considered that “sometimes we see results and we fail to acknowledge that there was a process or a means to the end.”
She recalled that the nursing programme intervention was a process that swung into motion when Minister of Public Health, Ms Volda Lawrence, aided by a team from her Ministry, directed interest into what was happening with the country’s nurses, especially in the area of examination.
Ms. Mandy LaFleur
Reflecting on this tactical move, La Fleur said, “At first their input appeared to many of us as though it was too much of a direct mandate from the Ministry, but in the end we have seen its benefits.”
Heeding the concerns from the Ministry, La Fleur recalled that moves were made towards a diagnostic examination.
“That pointed to some of the contributing factors to our dilemma, and this indeed served as a guide to help us to stay our path,” recounted La Fleur, as she revealed that several consultation meetings were held at the Georgetown Nursing Council, at the schools of nursing as well as with key health and educational personnel.
“We worked hard…to get all of our partners on the same page. So we provided information, updated those who received part information, clarified our goals, achieved consensus and refined our approach. This was not an easy task; it was not an easy process, but we were able to move forward as a team, and as a team we worked,” said La Fleur.
In fact she pointed out that this approach was a lesson learnt that led to decisions being made, including two weeks of intense remedial sessions.
“It was there that it was mandated that all students attend these sessions…we had trouble [in the past] thus the need for the mandate,” said La Fleur, as she pointed out that “we were conscious that the schools of nursing were already involved in their remedial plans.”
This might have been in light of the fact that some of the schools of nursing had previously seen daunting performances, and there were even reports that some factions had engaged in deceptive activities.
According to LaFleur, based on the diagnostic results, the robust remedial sessions brought in additional tutors for both theoretical and practical sessions.
The schools of nursing include Georgetown, New Amsterdam, Linden and the Saint Joseph Mercy Hospital. For the Georgetown candidates, since it was a very large group of students, La Fleur said that two-thirds were supported in their daily process where daily private tutorship was done in the afternoons. Tutorship was offered by La Fleur, together with Nurse Joan Stewart. During these private sessions, she disclosed that “specific focus was given to item analysis, presentation skills, nursing care plans, among others.”
Added to this, she said that exploration of actual cases in practice settings was done in classrooms so as to link the cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains to enhance students’ comprehension analysis and critical thinking.
“I know some students complained, but then they later voiced their satisfaction…this is what we needed Sister [they said],” said La Fleur.
The outcome of the extensive effort was a 97 percent overall pass rate when the results of the professional nurses’ programme were released recently.
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