Call for nurses to get geriatric training to care for elderly patients

 

As discussions surrounding the ageing populations continues, senior members of the nursing profession are warning that the current nursing workforce is inadequately prepared to meet the complex needs of elderly patients. 

 

The population of people 60 years and older is predicted to be larger than those who are younger by 2058, with a rate of increase faster than decline.

 

Dean of the College of Health Sciences, Caribbean School of Nursing at the University of Technology, Professor Adella Campbell, says geriatric-specific training is limited.

 

"We need training in geriatric care. We do a bit of gerontology in our training programme, but that is not sufficient. Students do get exposed to geriatric homes, but that is not sufficient for the looming crisis that you are hearing about. We need to train more persons in those specialties so that we have adequate Jamaican nurses to care for persons in elder care," said Professor Campbell. 

 

Former President of the Nurses Association of Jamaica (NAJ), Patsy Edwards Henry, has also called for policymakers to pass legislation that sets minimum staffing ratios for hospitals.

 

This, she said, will prevent one nurse from being assigned to over 30 patients on any one shift.

 

Mrs. Edwards Henry lamented that the current situation is causing burnout and frustration. She said the NAJ commissioned research on the nurse-patient ratio which found that there was one nurse for about 37 to 40 patients in some settings, while the established standard is one to about eight.  

 

"We have not been able to get the legislators, the policymakers to actually listen to and legislate these nurse-patient ratios, because legislation of the nurse-patient ratio would now mean that the government would implement policies to ensure that we are practicing within the legal framework," she said. 

 

Meanwhile, Professor Campbell is pushing for increased budgetary allocations to support better wages for nurses and bring them on par with their regional counterparts and reduce the likelihood that they will want to migrate. 

 

She argued that nurses should at least be given wages that allow them to own a vehicle, own a home and live 'comfortably'. 

 

Professor Campbell and Mrs. Edwards Henry were guests Tuesday on the Morning Agenda on Power 106 FM.