By Trudy Simpson, Freelance WriterTHE NURSING Council of Jamaica (NCJ) says it is now awaiting feedback from nurses and other affected groups on its proposal to cut by 20 hours the mandatory continuing education criterion that requires nurses to attend 60 hours of studies so as to be able to renew their licences.
"Based on complaints from several nursing professionals, the council met and made this proposal and sent it out to them to ask them how they felt about the issue," said Thelma Deer-Anderson, the NCJ's registrar, in an interview with The Gleaner.
The registrar is expecting feedback from the Nurses' Association of Jamaica (NAJ), which had strongly lobbied for the decrease, the Midwives' Association and the Enrolled Assistant Nurses' Association. She has also taken the proposal to special interest groups such as school nurses.
She stressed, however, that "It's going to be a Cabinet decision. It's not in our hands but we are proposing, we are discussing and based on the response, we will decide how far we need to go with it."
LICENSING PROCEDURES
The new system requiring professionals to be licensed came into effect on January 1, 2002, replacing one under which professionals registered only once during their entire career. It requires registered nurses, midwives and enrolled assistant nurses to not only renew their licences every two years, but makes it mandatory for them to show they have completed 60 hours of continuing education before their licences can be renewed. Also, professionals are required to show 10 more hours of continuing education for each additional licence they possess.
But some nurses had ex-pressed concern that they did not have the required 60 hours because of difficulties caused by work pressures.
The Nursing Council of Jamaica reports that the registration compliance rate is almost 80 per cent. Mrs. Deer-Anderson said that to-date 3,487 nurses, midwives and enrolled nursing assistants have been registered, compared to the 4,500 the Nursing Council is aiming at for this year.
