By Devon Evans, Gleaner Writer

OCHO RIOS:

CHANGES TO the regulations governing the licensing of the island's nurses will come into effect later this year, but nurses fear that this will cause them financial strains.

Under the new regulations, which will come as a result of an amendment to the 1964 Nurses and Midwives Act, the licences offered to nurses will now expire every two years. This means that nurses who want to practise in Jamaica will have to apply for a new licence every two years and this is contingent on doing a certain number of hours of continuing education, which will enable applicants to accumulate a required number of points in order to qualify.

Those who fail to obtain a licence will still have their names on the register of nurses, but will be barred from practice until they meet the necessary qualifications.

Speaking in an interview with The Gleaner on Saturday, Syringa Marshall-Burnett, president of the Senate and a nurse administrator, said that both the Senate and the House of Representatives had already signed off on the bill for the amendment of the regulations and that it was waiting on the governor-general to sign it into law.

She said the new licensing system was in keeping with international standards and had been carefully sorted out by the government before coming to a final decision.

MORE QUALIFIED

Mrs. Marshall-Burnett also made it clear that some nurses will have to apply for more than one licence, especially those who operated as both registered nurses and registered mid-wives, but that the result will mean more recognition for nurses and a more qualified group of professionals.

However, some of the nurses, who attended the Rodney/Bun-naman workshop on concept mapping held at Hedonism III hotel in Runaway Bay, St. Ann recently, have expressed dis-pleasure with the new rules, claiming that it would place a heavy financial burden on them.

One registered nurse explained that the licence that had been granted to them when they first began their practice usually last for a lifetime, but that the new system, would now force them to pay for a licence every two years, which she claimed would cost over $10,000 each time.

She further explained that adding to the cost of the licence will be the cost of attending seminars/workshops and educational institutions in order to meet the new requirements.

BARRED FROM PRACTICE

Another registered nurse pointed out that several of her colleagues were already beginning to express fear that the new system could see several nurses being barred from practice every two years, if financial difficulties were to prevent them from getting involved in continued education.

But Mrs. Marshall-Burnett, who is a former president of the Nurses Association of Jamaica (NAJ), said there was nothing for nurses to fear.

While admitting that it would be an additional cost to nurses to improve their education, she said the extent of that cost would be based on how well the nurses organised themselves.

She added, "In the government service today, all institutions have an inservice educator who is there to organise orientation service programmes for new staff and continued education programmes for existing staff, so that they can obtain some of the training requirements."

Mrs. Marshall-Burnett added that the NAJ also assisted some nurses in travelling to attendworkshops and conferences, which would allow them to gain some of the required hours of continuing education. She said some nurses who attained more than the required hours could carry the additional hours over into their next licensing period.