'Govt ignoring our nursing licence problems'

Tue, Jun 1st 2021, 04:39 PM

SOME unlicensed nursing school graduates feel they are being ignored by the government and are left in limbo unable to practise.

A large number of graduates of the University of The Bahamas’ nursing programme have been unable to obtain nursing licences due to unattainable clinical hours because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
#In order to obtain a licence to practice as a nurse, the Nursing Council requires a certain number of clinical hours. The nursing students have not been able to meet those requirements because of stipulations in COVID-19 protocols which restricted UB from face-to-face clinical training.
#One of the nursing school graduates said they were in “limbo” as there was no communication with them. They said no one was trying to get them what they needed besides Bahamas Nurses Union president, Amancha Williams.
#“We are in limbo here,” said the nursing school graduate who asked for her name not to be used. “We can’t practice. There is no one pushing the issue for us besides Nurse Amancha Williams. We have been asking everyone what is going on and no one can give us answers.
#“We are being ignored. This government ignores everyone. It’s like there is no sense of urgency about anyone’s life or livelihood. There are at least 140 of us in the system waiting to be able to practise as nurses.”
#When contacted for comment, Nurse Gina Dean, director of nursing at the Ministry of Health, said the government has in fact started to allow clinical hours for the graduates and chalked it up to poor communication. She sympathises with the frustration experienced by the graduates.
#“It’s not that they are unable to graduate,” said Nurse Dean. “They have graduated from the University of The Bahamas so they have their Bachelors of Science in Nursing. The challenge, because of the pandemic, they were not able to complete all of their clinical hours, legally required by the (Nursing) Council.
#“The Council requires that before they are able to practise as nurses they have to have a certain number of clinical hours. So in the pandemic when everything was shut down that stopped their training and stopped them from accepting those clinical hours to get what they needed.
#“We have now started infiltrating them back into the clinical site. Whoever you spoke to may not have been in the first group to have gained access. We are making sure that all of them receive the clinical hours. The first group went in on the 10th of May. There are two different groups of nurses.”

A large number of graduates of the University of The Bahamas’ nursing programme have been unable to obtain nursing licences due to unattainable clinical hours because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In order to obtain a licence to practice as a nurse, the Nursing Council requires a certain number of clinical hours. The nursing students have not been able to meet those requirements because of stipulations in COVID-19 protocols which restricted UB from face-to-face clinical training.

One of the nursing school graduates said they were in “limbo” as there was no communication with them. They said no one was trying to get them what they needed besides Bahamas Nurses Union president, Amancha Williams.

“We are in limbo here,” said the nursing school graduate who asked for her name not to be used. “We can’t practice. There is no one pushing the issue for us besides Nurse Amancha Williams. We have been asking everyone what is going on and no one can give us answers.

“We are being ignored. This government ignores everyone. It’s like there is no sense of urgency about anyone’s life or livelihood. There are at least 140 of us in the system waiting to be able to practise as nurses.”

When contacted for comment, Nurse Gina Dean, director of nursing at the Ministry of Health, said the government has in fact started to allow clinical hours for the graduates and chalked it up to poor communication. She sympathises with the frustration experienced by the graduates.

“It’s not that they are unable to graduate,” said Nurse Dean. “They have graduated from the University of The Bahamas so they have their Bachelors of Science in Nursing. The challenge, because of the pandemic, they were not able to complete all of their clinical hours, legally required by the (Nursing) Council.

“The Council requires that before they are able to practise as nurses they have to have a certain number of clinical hours. So in the pandemic when everything was shut down that stopped their training and stopped them from accepting those clinical hours to get what they needed.

“We have now started infiltrating them back into the clinical site. Whoever you spoke to may not have been in the first group to have gained access. We are making sure that all of them receive the clinical hours. The first group went in on the 10th of May. There are two different groups of nurses.”

 

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