More on the Caribbean 'Brain Drain'

The Economist recently published this thought-provoking article on an old, yet persistant problem ~ the impact at home in the Caribbean of nurse migration to 'greener pastures'!
With the World Health Organization and the Global Health Workforce Alliance currently developing a 'code of practice' to bring before the General Assembly next month, this blog will continue to keep it's ear to the ground on this topic! Click on the post title to read the full article published in The Economist on April 8, 2010.

UPDATE April 23/2010:
More on this topic from the Trinidad & Tobago Guardian.

World Bank Report on CARICOM Nursing Shortage

According to the new World Bank report released last week ~ “The Nurse Labor and Education Markets in the English-Speaking CARICOM - Issues and Options for Reform,” the region is facing a rapidly growing shortage of nurses as demand for quality health care increases due to an aging population, and high numbers of nurses emigrate drawn by higher paying jobs in Canada, the UK and the US. The data indicates that approximately 21,500 CARICOM trained nurses are working in Canada, the UK and the US; three times higher than the workforce in the CARICOM region itself. Just between 2002 and 2006 alone, more than 1,800 nurses left the region to work abroad.
Click on the title to read the World Bank Press Release and note the key policy recommendations to try to address and reverse this situation.

The Regional Nursing Body (RNB) Meets in St. Kitts

The Caribbean Regional Nursing Board met over three days in February 24-26 in St. Kitts & Nevis.
The order of business stated by Principal Nursing Officer Mrs. Henrietta Douglas-Christmas "..was to share knowledge, expertise, experience and creativity so that nurses would be better equipped to address the issues impacting the health of the region".
Mrs. Douglas-Christmas stressed that “the nursing profession faces unprecedented change, driven by globalization, migration and aging populations, the HIV/AIDS Pandemic and changes in nursing education and practice.”
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Mr. Elvis Newton pointed to "the challenges faced by the nurses could be within the education aspect itself. He encouraged the RNB to probe the education provided to the region’s nurses and noted that challenges faced locally and elsewhere included the influx of off-shore nursing schools which often challenge nursing practices where they are situated."
Click on the title to read the full news article in the Nevis Blog.

New Report Points to Some Possible Benefits of Caribbean Nurse Migration

Much has been said about the impact of nurse migration in the Caribbean. Now a new report by UWI (Jamaica) Research Fellow, Natasha Mortley, presented to the Global Development Network, provides us with further insight and analsysis with which to approach and tackle this situation.
In this blog post I have provided links to the report itself, as well as to a commentary on the report published in Panos London magazine entitled "Nursing exodus could benefit Caribbean in long term." [quote below taken from this commentary].

"The migration of nurses to wealthier countries could potentially benefit Caribbean healthcare systems if managed properly, a report claims. The report, written by Natasha Mortley, a research fellow at the University of West Indies in Jamaica, estimates it costs Caribbean governments US$ 35,000 to train a nurse – an investment that is lost when nurses leave to work abroad. However, the report argues that as many nurses eventually return to their original counties, there can also be important gains as a result of migration." by Tania Ghosh

The Cost of Nurse Migration

The cost of CARICOM nurse migration is the focus of this news article reporting on a recent meeting at the PAHO headquarters in Barbados.

"Emigration of nurses is costing some CARICOM countries an estimated US$16 million in losses. This cost accounts for training and retraining people to replace those nurses who leave for greener pastures."

This is indeed worisome, as is the cost to many other countries when their nurses emigrate to a CARICOM nation. However it was acknowledged at this meeting that the problem is a global one...

"In order to address this worldwide shortage of nurses, governments and professional organisations must find creative ways of making the profession more attractive.”

Click post title to read article from the Stabroek News.

Ninth Annual International Research Internship for Nurse Researchers

Internships Announcement: "Multiply Interventions for Community Health" The Ninth Annual International Research Internship for Nurse Researchers will be held in Jamaica ~ May & June 2010.

"A unique, intensive training opportunity for junior nurse researchers in Canada, Jamaica and the Caribbean, Kenya, Uganda, and South Africa to launch their research career and network internationally."

Application deadline: January 4, 2010
Note: Selection is competitive and limited seats are available

INTERNSHIP FOCUS:

Community health services & policy research

Global health issues

Developing research networks

Grantsmanship and publication skills

Linking with local, national, and international decision-makers

Working on interdisciplinary teams

Innovative research methods

Developing programs of research

Mentorship

Click on title for more details, eligibility, application form, etc.

Protection for Healthcare Workers in the Caribbean

Protection of healthcare workers in the Caribbean region is receiving some attention at last. The First Regional Meeting for Latin America and the Caribbean on Health Protection for Health-Care Workers was held September 22nd-24th, 2009 in Maracay, Venezuela.

The meeting was organized by "PAHO/WHO, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health of Venezuela, the Instituto de Altos Estudios de Salud Dr.Arnoldo Gabaldon, and the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)" and brought together "policymakers, academics, hospital managers, epidemiologists, front line workers, and civil society from across the region".

"Healthcare workers are often exposed simultaneously to a variety of work hazards from various natures, including biological, chemical, physical, and psycho-social ones."

During the meeting "participants had the opportunity to gain hands-on experience on EPINet, a surveillance system for tracking needlestick injures and blood and body fluid exposure among healthcare workers."
Click on the title to read more from the PAHO website.

The 17th Caribbean Regional Nursing Council Meeting in Belize

The Regional General Nursing Council meets yearly to conduct its examinations which allows for the standardization and improvement of nursing education and the free movement of nurses throughout the countries of the region.
Nurses from the Caribbean Community and Belize are present in the city for the 2 week workshop aimed at reviewing previous examinations held in October of last year and April of this year. The Regional Nursing Council is made up of representatives from thirteen Caribbean countries.

"We have a common examination, similar to the CXC that all registered nurses take on completion and this gives them license to practice. We have representatives here from ten of the thirteen countries.” said Marjorie Parks, Chief Nursing Officer for Belize. “In Belize we have about 500 nurses total but that is no way enough to meet all our health needs but nurses have to go through rigorous training. Our nurses in Belize train at a bachelor’s level at the University Level. We have several nursing programs but the program to prepare registered nurses is for four years and they come out with a degree."

Trinidad is Optimistic about it's Nursing Shortage

"Nursing shortage to end in 2012." reports Trinidad & Tobago's Newsday for Monday June 22, 2009.

Jerry Narace, Trinidad and Tobago's Minister of Health, "is confident the chronic shortage of nurses in the health sector will be remedied by 2012." What's his plan? ...for one to continue actively recruiting foreign nurses!

Dominica to Export Nurses to Barbadoes?

Dominica News Online carried this news story by Shermain Bique on May 29, 2009, after an announcement by Prime Minister Skerrit that Dominic could be exporting nurses to Barbadoes as early as October of this year.
Click on the title link to read the article.

The 1st Interdisciplinary Clinical Simulation Symposium

Join us at the St. Kitts Marriot Resort on February 13 ~ 15, 2009, for the 1st Interdisciplinary Clinical Simulation Symposium!
Hosted by the University of Medicine & Health Sciences ~ St. Kitts and the International University of Nursing, this symposium will hold workshops designed for nurses, physicians and medical faculty.
Check out the ICSS website for further details and online registration.

Caribbean Stepping up Fight Against HIV/ AIDS

Dr. Goulda A. Downer, a Jamaican-born top official at Howard University's College of Medicine in Washington, DC, was recently awarded a US$400,000 Ford Foundation grant.
The purpose of the grant will be to engage Caribbean clinicians in capacity building preceptorships that will increase interdisciplinary communication and collaboration, enhance clinical skills and improve the quality of HIV care.
Preceptorships will be open to the following groups of practitioners: physicians, registered nurses, pharmacists, dentists, nutritionists/dieticians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants.
Jamaica Information Service, Washington DC, Dec 6/08

Caribbean Health Conference focuses on Disease Prevention & Nursing Leadership

Antigua and Barbuda will play host to over 100 delegates, representing 17 Caribbean nations, for a major health conference on "Community-Based Prevention and Management of Cardiovascular and other Chronic Diseases among Caribbean Elderly – A focus on Nursing Leadership".

The conference will be held next week, October 13-15, 2008; and is in collaboration with Duke University School of Nursing, Office of Global and Community Health Initiatives, the Ministry of Health, the Pan American Health Organisation [PAHO] and the United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC].

Read more on Caribbean News Net ~ and in the Antigua Sun.

Caribbean Nursing Statistics

Table 1:
Number of Registered Nurses, Vacancies, and Vacancy Rates by Country.
Table 2:
Registered Nurses' Resignations with Declared Intentions to Migrate to the United Kingdom, the United States of America, or Canada, by Year and Country.
Table 3:
Health Workforce in the Caribbean Region per 10,000 Population.

Managed migration: the Caribbean approach to addressing nursing services capacity
Health Services Research, June, 2007, by Marla E. Salmon,
Jean Yan, Hermi Hewitt, Victoria Guisinger

Nursing Body Charts Future Course for Profession

“This issue [nursing shortage] has generated the necessity to convene significant forums to evaluate the health workforce issues worldwide with an overall aim of determining policies and strategies to deal with what is now believed to be a ‘crisis’ situation affecting the quality of health care delivery.”

Click on the title to access the artilce in the Antigua Sun.

St. Kitts & Nevis Nurses Meet Together

Theme of the Retreat:
“Empowering Nurses to Deliver Quality Health Care In the 21st Century”.
Read news report on SKNVibes: posted Monday 02 June, 2008

Nursing Continuing Education Conference

The Heatlh Services Authority (HSA) of the Cayman Islands, hosted their 3rd annual nursing education conference May 15 - 19, 2008.
The conference gave local nurses the opportunity to strengthen and enhance the standard of nursing care delivered across the Cayman islands.
“There is so much that demands our attention, and there are so few of us to cover. We are working constantly, against the clock, to ease suffering and save lives”
Chief Nursing Officer Hazel Brown
Click on title for report in The Cay Compass.

Barbadian Nurses Promised More if they Stay at Home

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, April 30, 2008 - "The Barbados government is moving to improve the nursing profession to bring it in line with international standards, encourage these health care providers to stay at home..." [at home in Barbadoes that is, not to give up their careers and stay home]. The article goes on to describe the anticipated enhancements that are expected to result from the new Nurses Bill 2008 that passed in Parliament in Barbadoes last Tuesday.
Click title to read the full article from Caribbean360.

Crisis In The Health Sector Of Caribbean Countries

Crisis In The Health Sector Of Caribbean Countries: The Impact Of Trade
Liberalization And The Movement Of Labour On Health Services In The
CARICOM, March 2008
Conference paper by
Marjorie Charles, PhD (University of the West Indies)
"This paper examines the impact of migration of nurses on the health sector in the CARICOM region and implications for policy making. It also examines the extent to which domestic regulation in the health sector can be used as a tool for policy making."[from abstract]
Click on the title for access to the full text article.