44 graduate as patient care assistants

FORTY-FOUR graduates will now enter the healthcare sector as patient care assistants (PCAs), following completion of a six-month training programme.

The programme began in July 2018, through collaboration between the Ministries of Public Health and Social Protection and the PCAs were exposed to theory and clinical training which better prepared them for the work environment. According to Programme Coordinator Doneth Mingo, the PCAs were recruited from Regions Three, Four, Five and 10. There was a 100 percent pass rate recorded from this batch.

Sixteen students garnered over 90; 14 scored between 80 and 90 per cent; nine got between 70 and 80 per cent and five scored 60 to 70 per cent. Working in the nursing field for over 20 years and representative of the Ministry of Public Health, Caroline Hicks stressed: “Patient Care Assistance is no less of a job in the health care sector.”

In fact, she remarked that the concept of healthcare does not only speak to taking care of health issues of the patients, but it also speaks to efforts to ensure their holistic well-being. “PCAs are very critical and valuable healthcare workers all over the world,” Hicks stated and shared: “Over the years working as a nurse, I have nursed with a number of PCAs [and] we support each other and they ensure that they are always ready and prepared for the tasks to be undertaken.”

PCAs are responsible for measuring patients’ vital signs and feeding unconscious patients, among other things, she said and posited: “These are not miniscule things, they are not tasks to be taken lightly.” Director of Health Science Education Seraiah Validum also told the graduates, “As you think about futuristic plans, I would like to urge you to consider everyone you make contact with as your patient.”

She also added: “Being a PCA comes with patience, tolerance, compassion and generally one should have the spirit of care and benevolence.”

PCAs work in conjunction with nurses and doctors to provide redress to patients, and the director said the PCAs could very well use their training as a stepping stone towards becoming nurses and even doctors.

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