UNIVERSITY of Guyana Vice Chancellor Ivelaw Griffith reminded the Class of 2018 Bachelor Degree in Nursing, that as nurses they are expected to uphold the value of respect, honesty and continuous pursuit of excellence, as he delivered remarks at the Annual Awards Ceremony to honour the graduands at the Pegasus Hotel, Savannah Suite.

Griffith urged the nurses not to embarrass their profession, using the case of the recent incident with the firefighters who assisted at the site of the Fly Jamaica plane crash, and went on to steal items found at the crash site.

“You may see fancy stuff, it’s not your stuff don’t take it. The business of the value of integrity is just as important as having the technical skills to heal. People are putting their trust in you, you are not allowed to betray that trust. You have to be caring not only for the physical but for the personal items of your patients,” Griffith said.

Griffith went on to charge the students to not see their Bachelor Degree as the end of their academic pursuit and to continue to strive for greater heights.

“The value of excellence has a preposition and a proposition related to continuous improvement. We’re not accustomed to mediocrity. Sometimes we’re so comfortable with mediocrity, we don’t pursue excellence. The more progress you gain the more progress you can make,” he said.

This year some 29 students graduated from the programme, eight of them doing so with distinction. The distinction students were bestowed with trophies and tokens, while there were a number of other awards given out, some carrying monetary prizes.
The “Best Research” award went to nurses Nathoya Munroe and partner, Alana Sparman for their research on the “Perceived needs of parents caring for children with special needs”.

The “Best Innovation” award went to Anesha Hamilton. A special award, the Gwen Tross Award, was won by Marguerite Hoyte, who also won the “Best Graduating Student” award. Hoyte who was conferred with a trophy and $100 pounds sterling, graduated with a 3.9 GPA.