–offering a practice environment for ‘real-world’ scenarios

WITH its cutting-edge technology, the state-of-the-art simulation laboratory at Charles Rosa Nursing School in Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice), offers nursing students a regulated and realistic practice environment to help with the improvement of their knowledge and skills.

According to Advisor to the Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, the lab is intended to enhance learning for the nursing students as well as give them the opportunity to put their theoretical knowledge to use in “real-world” scenarios.

This advanced technology is expected to play an integral role in ensuring that the students gain useful experience and are prepared for future employment in the public health field.
“We are ensuring that between now and the end of May, these labs will be at all the nursing schools across the country, and simulation labs at some of the hospitals. This is to support the training of nurses because training in the past relied purely on trainee nurses being in hospitals where they got their practical training.

“While that will still continue, the practical training in our clinics, hospitals, etc. will be reinforced through simulation exercises. We will also have the manikins, some of which are computerised to mimic various conditions such as blood pressure, temperature, pulse, etc.” Dr. Ramsammy explained.

He also stated that these exercises allow the nurses to practice in addition to having their practical in the medical facilities with real patients. Dr. Ramsammy further added that this will strengthen the training programmes and provide more hands-on experience for the trainee nurses.

Speaking with this publication, he said that this lab will also allow for simulation exercises with nurses who are already qualified. “Overall, the simulation labs will improve the quality of our training programmes and our continuing education programmes. One of the best things is that both the trainees and nurses in service do not have to wait for supervised practice; they can practice with the simulation manikins at any time, as many times as possible, and as long as possible. I would also like to encourage the nurses who are residents of the nursing school to make full use of the opportunities that are at their disposal and practice in the simulation labs.”

Dr. Ramsammy said that the aim is to ensure that all Guyanese benefit from a modern and affordable health care system. “No sector in any country can claim perfection, but our President, Dr. Ali, has spoken about giving us a world-class health care system, and the Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, has spoken about the redefinition of primary health care, and Minister Frank Anthony, in his budget speech, spoke about Guyana being on the rise of a health revolution.”

He also pointed out that everyone can observe what transpired between 2015 and 2020 under the previous administration. According to him, the health sector remained stagnant, life expectancy did not rise, the theatres at hospitals such as New Amsterdam were closed due to the lack of anaesthesia, X-rays in Six collapsed, Regions One, Seven, Six, Eight, and Nine had more down time than access, and the number one cataract centre in Port Mourant was closed by 2020, amongst other issues.

“In approximately four years since the PPP/C took office, we have made significant advancements in life expectancy (approaching 71 years), premature deaths have dropped to 58 percent from greater than 80 percent, access to medicines has improved to greater than 85 percent, and we have increased the surgical outputs from around 12,000–13,000 surgeries annually to more than 20,000 surgeries annually. Cataract surgeries are now averaged between 100 and 200 per month at Port Mourant, and I must say that all the X-rays in Region Six with the exception of Skelton hospital have digital X-rays.”

Dr. Ramsammy said that the ‘Georgetown’ hospital is performing “many historical surgeries” and surgeries that are being performed for the first time in Guyana and often for the first time in the Caribbean.

“We have become the Kidney and Cornea Transplant Centre in the Caribbean, and we have 13 new hospitals under construction, and what I have listed is just a short list of all that is happening in the sector and the improvements in the last three and a half years.”