More nurses pass exam but ‘recruit outside for now’, says BNA

More Barbadians are passing the Caribbean exam to qualify to be registered nurses, prompting the head of the nursing association to declare Barbados well on its way to filling a huge gap in nursing staff levels in the long term after reaching a critical low.

But Barbados Nursing Association (BNA) president Joannah Waterman continues to back the recruitment of nurses from Ghana, suggesting it will take years before homegrown nursing numbers can fill the staffing gap.

The pass rate last year jumped to a high of 62 per cent, reversing a five-year slump in which as few as 12 per cent passed in 2018, she told Barbados TODAY.

She attributed the higher pass rates to changes to the critical qualifying exam that were driven by the Barbados Government.

Waterman said: “One of the things that impacted on the low number of nurses was the fact that the failure rate at the regional exams was high.

“So now that we are seeing an increase in the pass rate, it means that we are going to add to the number of nursing personnel that we have, and we can really begin to make a dent in the deficit.

“Right now, we have a deficit of over 600 nurses across all health institutions but based on the passes at the last exam we can now reduce that number by 39 registered nurses.”

For the last five years, Barbados has seen declining pass rates at the regional nurses’ exams, with 2018 being the worse. That year, only 12 per cent of exam candidates made the passing grade.

But in the exam sitting last October, Barbados achieved a 62 per cent pass rate.

Last August, Minister of Health Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bostic told Barbados TODAY that Government has taken steps to address the longstanding gap between the syllabus taught at the Barbados Community College’s nursing school and the one required to prepare for the regional tests, which are administered by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC).

Exam-takers are now given a maximum four chances to pass, instead of the previous three failed attempts.

The Health Minister explained at the time that for years the BCC has been preparing its nursing students for its internal exams while totally ignoring the regional exam, which is key to their ability to practice their profession.

The BNA head told Barbados TODAY that while she was confident that the changes were responsible for the increased pass rate, she predicted it will be a few years before Barbados can produce enough homegrown nurses to meet the demand. She suggested that in the meantime, the Government will still need to continue its programme of recruiting foreign nurses.

Waterman said: “We are expecting the first recruitment of nurses from Ghana by February and we are going to have to recruit for a little while because the numbers are huge in terms of the shortage.

“So we would not be able to catch up in the short term. We would have to keep recruiting from outside over a period of time and then over the long term as our pass rates continue to improve, we would meet our quota.”