The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

A SMALL group of student nurses demonstrated in Rawson Square yesterday, calling for the ability to complete clinical hours in the hospital.

Completing a certain number of clinical hours is a requisite of the Nursing Council. However, the nursing students have not been able to meet those requirements because of stipulations in COVID-19 protocols which restricted them from face-to-face clinical training.

Standing in the rain outside of Parliament, the group held signs which read “Free the nursing students” and “put Bahamian nurses first @ Minister Wells”.

Fourth-year student Grace Lightbourne said they have been “denied the right to graduate”. She hoped their demonstration would bring a solution. She estimated there are up to 200 students who are trying to graduate from the University of the Bahamas.

The 22-year-old said: “I know that it’s been put in the media most recently that there are students that graduated but there are more students that are waiting to graduate and there are students that have been held back for an entire year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and we’ve gotten excuse after excuse.

“However, medical students are in the hospital. They’ve been allowed to complete their rotation hours, but nursing students aren’t. Trained clinical nurses students are actually in the hospital now, but Bachelor of Science in nursing students are not.

“Why is that? They are claiming that ‘oh the clinical area isn’t ready.’ When is it ever going to be ready? COVID-19 isn’t going anywhere and it’s not going any time soon. The hospital is not going to improve in the snap of a finger but we need solutions now. You cannot hold us back for years and every week we see in the media the shortage of nurses is getting worse.

“The more you hold us up, the more backlog of hours....in my cohort we have a total of 836 hours just to complete and that’s only four classes to complete and to be done and to graduate.”

She noted they had reached out to the Bahamas Nurses Union (BNU) who invited them to a meeting with the minister, but he reportedly cancelled it.

Supporting the frustrated students was BNU President Amancha Williams.

“I’m here because what we have is trained clinical nurses in this programme that bridged from the TCN to the RN programme. So I have to represent them and ensure that their transition is smooth along with the new graduate nurses in the system,” she said.

“If they’re calling for the government to come out and to assist them and the persons that sit in the seat such as UB, the director of nursing, the nursing service advisory, the minister of health, the PS – all of them need to come to the table and definitely the Nursing Council needs to come out and assist them in the way that they can get their hours in order to sit their council exam for their licences in order to work in the hospital so that we can combat the shortage. The question is, do you want to combat the shortage? I say take care of our own.”

Shakanah Curry, a fourth-year student, completed all her theoretical classes and is only missing internship hours. She believes that the Bahamian government “totally disrespects” the nursing profession.

“This profession is an esteemed profession and in many countries they look up to nurses, however in the Bahamas I believe this is so disrespected and I really do not appreciate it because I want to get my degree. I want to go into the health system. I would love to help Bahamian people, however, right now, they’re literally telling me that I cannot and I am very disrespected.”

Opposition leader Philip Davis and Englerston MP Glenys Hanna-Martin went to the square and spoke to the nursing students during their protest.

 Later yesterday the Public Hospitals Authority released a statement acknowledging it implemented COVID-19 measures dating back to March 2020 to ensure the safety of all persons entering its institutions and agencies.

“These protocols also govern the facilitation of our clinical services and training programmes,” PHA noted. “It is against this backdrop that the PHA wishes to advise that during the period March 2020 to March 2021 students from the University of the West Indies (UWI) and the University of the Bahamas (UB) were unable to access the clinical environment at our institutions.”

The statement said that on Monday, May 10, students from the trained clinical nurse programme commenced their 14-week rotation in the clinical environment of the Public Hospitals Authority, starting with Princess Margaret Hospital.

“Logistics pertaining to the re-entry of the Bachelor of Science nursing students is expected to be completed shortly. The PHA maintains the highest standards of compliance with COVID-19 protocols for the well-being of patients, visitors, and staff in our facilities.”