Warner challenges Ministry of Health’s decision
Saturday January 07 2006
by Patricia Campbell
Days after Minister of Health John Maginley announced that he had asked two medical schools to expand their offerings into the field of nursing, President of the Nurses Association Elenora Warner has challenged the Ministry of Health’s decision to move forward with these plans without consultations with the nursing council.
She has cautioned that this move has the potential to alienate nurses at a time when the country is in desperate need of these professionals. Warner, who is also the principal of the School of Nursing, viewed the government’s move as a slight to the School of Nursing, which celebrates its 50th year in operation in 2006 and, she said, has been sorely neglected.
“It is fundamentally wrong. It is devaluing our worth and not giving us the respect that is our due,” she said.
She argued that instead of approaching foreign institutions to make financial gain from training nurses, the government should focus on developing and expanding its own nursing school.
“For years we have been put on the backburner. We have operated in reconverted bedrooms, abandoned dorms and now, at Barrymore we are in reconverted bedrooms again. It is time to give due attention to the School of Nursing that has been doing such a good job despite our lack of resources.” she said.
Instead, she pointed out, the government is encouraging the private schools to compete with the School of Nursing, for limited clinical spaces at Holberton Hospital. Warner explained that each trainee nurse is required to gain practical clinical experience along with the theoretical training that they receive at the school. Because these student nurses must be supervised by the nursing staff at the Holberton Hospital, the number of spaces available for these clinical rotations must be limited.
The minister of health has said that nurses produced by the medical schools will help to fill the gap left by the migration of nurses to higher paying jobs in North America.
This migration has been identified as one of the main factors contributing to the nursing crisis.
Warner suggested that the contractual bonding of nursing students, which would require them to work in Antigua for a set number of years after completion of the nursing programme, would help mitigate this problem.
Minister Maginley has, however, gone on record with the position that this will not be effective. “Bonding will not work, because if somebody is going to offer you two or three times what we can pay you here to go to America or to Canada, people are going to leave. A hospital in New York is under no obligation to us not to hire somebody who we have bonded,” Maginley said in a recent interview with the SUN.
While Warner acknowledges that some nurses will migrate, she insists that the bond would act as a deterrent, particularly if the government acts decisively to enforce the financial penalty for the trainee or the sureties who sign the bond. In any case, she said, even if a nurse leaves the island, the government will be able to recoup its investment.
© SUN Printing & Publishing LTD 2003-2004. All Rights Reserved.
Saturday January 07 2006
by Patricia Campbell
Days after Minister of Health John Maginley announced that he had asked two medical schools to expand their offerings into the field of nursing, President of the Nurses Association Elenora Warner has challenged the Ministry of Health’s decision to move forward with these plans without consultations with the nursing council.
She has cautioned that this move has the potential to alienate nurses at a time when the country is in desperate need of these professionals. Warner, who is also the principal of the School of Nursing, viewed the government’s move as a slight to the School of Nursing, which celebrates its 50th year in operation in 2006 and, she said, has been sorely neglected.
“It is fundamentally wrong. It is devaluing our worth and not giving us the respect that is our due,” she said.
She argued that instead of approaching foreign institutions to make financial gain from training nurses, the government should focus on developing and expanding its own nursing school.
“For years we have been put on the backburner. We have operated in reconverted bedrooms, abandoned dorms and now, at Barrymore we are in reconverted bedrooms again. It is time to give due attention to the School of Nursing that has been doing such a good job despite our lack of resources.” she said.
Instead, she pointed out, the government is encouraging the private schools to compete with the School of Nursing, for limited clinical spaces at Holberton Hospital. Warner explained that each trainee nurse is required to gain practical clinical experience along with the theoretical training that they receive at the school. Because these student nurses must be supervised by the nursing staff at the Holberton Hospital, the number of spaces available for these clinical rotations must be limited.
The minister of health has said that nurses produced by the medical schools will help to fill the gap left by the migration of nurses to higher paying jobs in North America.
This migration has been identified as one of the main factors contributing to the nursing crisis.
Warner suggested that the contractual bonding of nursing students, which would require them to work in Antigua for a set number of years after completion of the nursing programme, would help mitigate this problem.
Minister Maginley has, however, gone on record with the position that this will not be effective. “Bonding will not work, because if somebody is going to offer you two or three times what we can pay you here to go to America or to Canada, people are going to leave. A hospital in New York is under no obligation to us not to hire somebody who we have bonded,” Maginley said in a recent interview with the SUN.
While Warner acknowledges that some nurses will migrate, she insists that the bond would act as a deterrent, particularly if the government acts decisively to enforce the financial penalty for the trainee or the sureties who sign the bond. In any case, she said, even if a nurse leaves the island, the government will be able to recoup its investment.
© SUN Printing & Publishing LTD 2003-2004. All Rights Reserved.
