–nurses association urges; disagrees with decision to send Hicks on leave

THE Guyana Nursing Association is in disagreement with the Board and administrators at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) with the decision to send Director of Nursing Services, (Matron) Sister Collene Hicks on administrative leave.The Guyana Nurses Association (GNA) in a statement accused doctors at the hospital of mis-diagnosing patients, resulting in further complications.
“Guyana Nurses Association is dissatisfied over the recent decision made by the board and the administrator of the GPHC to send the Director of Nursing Services on administrative leave at this time, mainly to appease the doctors,” the statement said.
The nurses said the board of directors considered a decision which has no merit, since there is no evidence to support the allegations levelled against Matron Hicks.
At a press conference Thursday, GPHC Chairman, Dr Carl Max Hanoman, said GPHC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Alan Johnson had recommended that the matron be sent on administrative leave.
A petition was also signed by 150 staff nurses and doctors recommending termination of her service.
The matron has been accused of not providing enough nurses to support the delivery of health-care in the various departments and shifting the nurses around the various departments of the hospital, obstructing the smooth flow of service- delivery.
Complaints of unprofessionalism in service-delivery and neglect have also surfaced at the institution, and Dr Hanoman said the institution’s CEO had complained that although he wrote the matron on several occasions, she refused to follow instructions.
“The CEO wrote her more than once and she did not follow instructions,” Dr Hanoman said.
Meanwhile, the nurses association said there is no evidence to support such claims and recommended that a thorough investigation be launched into the operations at the GPHC.
“Where is the evidence to support the allegation? And who employed the novice nurses as mentioned in the petition? There needs to be a thorough investigation of the operations at the GPHC,” the statement said.
The nurses association accused doctors of causing longer periods of hospitalisation and deaths of patients due to incorrect diagnoses and poor management of patients at the country’s main health institution.
They said the nation would be in shock if investigations should be launched at departments outside the hospital’s Maternity Unit.
“If deaths in other departments are investigated like those in the Maternity Unit, it will shock the nation as wrong diagnoses and poor management contribute to an alarming number of deaths and nurses are aware… are we the ones who misdiagnosed the patients and caused them longer hospitalisation stay, increasing mortality and morbidity rates?”
The association said it is quite obvious that there is a hidden agenda in the medical and professional services operations at the GPHC and recommended that doctors “spend time conducting research to improve their clinical practice and leave the nurses to do nursing management.”
“The registered nurse has knowledge, skills and competency and always displays same,” the statement said and added that many times most doctors at the institution are guided by the nurses.