By Svetlana Marshall

“THE system is not working for us,” Principal Nursing Tutor of the Georgetown School of Nursing Cleopatra Barkoye said, as she bemoaned the conditions under which learning takes place at the central nursing school. Barkoye made the comments as she delivered the Georgetown School of Nursing 2014-2016 Report during the school’s 30th Biennial Graduation Ceremony held recently at the National Cultural Centre.
Speaking in the presence of the Public Health Minister, Dr George Norton and PAHO/WHO Country Representative, Dr William Adu-Krow, Principal Barkoye spoke of the many challenges facing both tutors and students, among which is the lack of a conducive learning environment.
“Students are sitting in classrooms where the heat becomes unbearable most afternoons [and] at such times no learning takes place,” she pointed out, while noting too that the library is also unsuitable for students to conduct personal studies and research.
Clinical areas, Principal Barkoye further reported, are still overcrowded. “Nursing students must compete with other categories of students to deliver patient care. The midwifery students work against the tide many times, each trying to secure their 25 normal deliveries which is an uphill task, considering the competition with medical students, and their colleague midwifery students from the Charles Roza School of Nursing,” she noted.
According to her, the situation is further compounded by the lack of supervision, due to the fact that there are no full-time clinical instructor position existing at the nursing institution. As a result of the current situation, the students attending the evening classes are placed at a disadvantage, since they are ever so often unable to carry out many of the clinical procedures.
Additionally, the students attending the evening classes incur additional costs to access their learning lab, which is at the East Street building.
Turning her attention to the challenges facing the full-time tutors and even the pool of 45 part-time lecturers and clinical supervisors, Principal Barkoye said the untimely maintenance of equipment and faculty has been affecting them for far too long.
“The improper maintenance of equipment has left many computers in the school in a state of disrepair. The lone air-conditioning unit in the faculty office had wept for so long many buckets of tears; finally, it has given up the ghost. This leave [sic] tutors unable to sit at their desks to prepare lessons, because their concentration is divided between the open textbooks on their desk and the piece of cardboards in their hands,” she pointed out.
Additionally, tutors are unable to deliver their courses in an effective manner, due to the limited supply of materials.
“The continued disruption of water to the building is an unnecessary bother that students and faculty can do without. The much needed internet is unreliable and for many months at times without this invaluable resource at the school, tutors and students [are] affected negatively,” the principal further complained.
She said it is important to have the issues affecting the school addressed in a timely manner. “It may seem dismal, but the health of our nation lies in our hands. Therefore, it is imperative to get it right from the beginning. The Georgetown School of Nursing is one such beginning,” she said.
She said in order for the school to successfully graduate nurses and midwives within the specified period, there must be additional effort, communication and coordination of all the stakeholders and finances. “The system as is, is not working for us. All the stakeholders can do better for our present student population that which was not done for the graduating class of 2016,” the Principal Nursing Tutor underscored.
However, Principal Barkoye did not leave the podium without offering much-needed advice.
She said what is needed, is a healthy working environment for students and tutors, high-speed internet and adequate resources, particularly an increase of full-time tutors.
“Officials at the Ministry of Public Health must become reflective, lest the past experiences of students’ failures become meaningful to current events and guide future behaviours. Solutions must become clearer and not lop-sided,” she emphasised.
She added: “Any sane person or educator who understands the genesis of the Georgetown School of Nursing failure rate will stop the blame game. A healthy working environment will enable students to learn in comfort and improve their success rate.”
While the graduating class of 2016 has shown marginal improvement in the various programmes, Principal Barkoye is warning of a recurrence when students’ performances were at an all-time low.
This year, 310 persons successfully completed the three primary programmes offered at the Georgetown School of Nursing: the Single-Trained Midwifery Programme, the Nursing Assistant Programme and the Professional Nursing Programme, also known as the Registered Nursing Programme.
Duty-free concessions for all tutors were another key recommendation made by the Principal Tutor.
Quoting former Principal Nursing Tutor, Sister Vashti Hinds, Barkoye said: “In order to be qualified as a nursing tutor, the nurse must go through many years of preparation: three years to become a professional nurse; two years of clinical experience; one year [of] training as a midwife followed by four years of training in education at the University of Guyana – a total of 10 years.”
Additionally, she said tutors are required to travel more than 30 miles per day to execute their duties. Principal Barkoye said while the Public Health Ministry may be unable to increase their salaries currently, duty-free concessions can be an alternative.
“Like teachers, we are also eligible for duty-free concessions. We are only 10 in number presently. We are patriots. Why not help us feel proud of our achievements? We are aware of the fact that there is a tremendous shortage of nurses and this will continue to grow. Hence, it is only fitting to institute ways to retain your highly qualified staff,” Principal Barkoye said, as she further quoted Sister Hinds.
In response to the concerns raised, the Public Health Minister committed to addressing a number of the issues, while Dr Adu-krow announced PAHO/WHO’s willingness to furnish the faculty with an A/C unit. PAHO/WHO has also been working with the school to have tutors undergo a Master’s programme.