The nation’s nurses are being urged to ready themselves for a pivotal role in Guyana’s evolving health sector transformation.
According to a release from the Department of Public Information (DPI) on Tuesday, this was the exhortation of Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony, in his address at the Nurses and Midwives Council of Guyana’s awards ceremony at Cara Lodge in Georgetown, for nurses who have been serving for over 30 years.
He spoke of the forthcoming changes in medical practice and stressed the importance of continuous learning. “The way that we are practicing medicine is going to change drastically in Guyana, it has already been changing over the years…very soon, if we are not there in some aspects as yet, a lot of what we will be doing, people from the surrounding areas, countries will be looking to Guyana as an example.”
The Minister mentioned the the availability of resources under the Continuing Nursing Education programme and encouraged knowledge sharing, while proposing a Nurses Research Conference led by the nurses themselves.
He pointed out that with plans to to build 13 new hospitals and upgrade existing facilities nationwide, specialised training for nurses is being prioritised to meet the expanding health sector’s demands. “If we are going to provide better cardiac care, we need to have cardiac specialization, or cardiac nurses, critical care, we need critical care nurses whatever area you choose because we will be doing a lot of specialised care and therefore, we need to train people to be able to offer these types of care.”
DPI stated that Anthony took the opportunity to acknowledge the “vital” role of nurses, and proposed making the award ceremony an annual event to celebrate their dedication and commitment to patient care. He also called for a shift in the narrative surrounding nursing, emphasising the significant impact nurses have on daily patient care.
Nurses Week is observed from May 6-12 under the theme “Our Nurses, Our Future, The Economic Power of Care”, the release added.
