Georgetown Hospital effectively managing nurse shortage

To counter a nurse shortage that the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) has been dealing with for some years now, health authorities have been utilising certain strategies such as training and bringing in foreign nurses.

This is according to Chief Executive Officer of GPHC Robbie Rambarran.

“Our nursing shortage has been compounded by the punctuality issue we have with nurses,” Rambarran said Monday at an end-of-year press conference at the hospital’s Resource Centre in New Market Street, Georgetown.

While a shift should have about six nurses, often times there are just about three because some are not on time, may be apathetic, or may be dealing with burn out because of their work load.

It is at such times that doctors have to fill in and complete some of the duties of nurses, Rambarran said.

He doesn’t believe that a mass migration of nurses exists like before though. “The last we checked, many of the nurses did not migrate but they work at other hospitals and there are other companies that have their in-house medical care.”

“While nurses are leaving, we are employing as well. The shortage of nurses is not a Guyana issue; it’s a global issue. There is a global shortage of nurses,” he sought to point out when pressed by media operatives to share more on the issue.

One of the strategies being employed, he said, is training. There is currently about 1,000 registered nurses in training, with another programme training nursing assistants as well.

“This building (Resource Centre) that we’re actually in, the reason for it; that we’re renting, is for training of nurses,” he said.

Another strategy, according to Rambarran, is bringing nurses from Cuba; the Cuban brigade. There are currently 33 Cuban nurses employed here.

“There are nurses that are already here, and there are about 300 more who are coming while we are finalising their accommodations,” he informed.

The nurse shortage at the moment stands at about 700.