Nurses want expanded programmes at other health facilities

Public health officials are being urged to treat the country’s psychiatric and geriatric hospitals with the same level of caution directed at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), in light of the spiralling COVID-19 situation.

President of the Barbados Nurses Association (BNA) Joannah Waterman made the appeal hours before news broke of a positive COVID-19 case within the country’s main Geriatric Hospital at Beckles Road, St. Michael.

“Our recommendations include having expanded measures like those at the QEH to protect the other healthcare institutions, such as quarantine units at the psychiatry and geriatrics to protect their wards and units,” said Waterman in a statement on Thursday.

“There is also a need for special training by the Ministry of Health for the psychiatric nurses on how to carry out swabbing on the types of patients who are likely to be resistant and even aggressive.”

The association also stressed the need for community mental health nurses to engage patients through teleconferencing instead of venturing into homes to carry out assessments,” she added.

Waterman added that a lack of accessible Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for employees at some district hospitals has also been a concern.

In the meantime, she hailed the 15-day lockdown measures expected to start on February 3 as an important step in the national response to the ongoing virus outbreak.

“We fully support the need for a lockdown of a few weeks to reset and get a handle on this community spread of COVID-19. However we understand calls from the economic society and the private sector not to have a full extended lockdown, because it is a balancing act of maintaining the safety of the nation while being able to stay healthy and fight off the virus,” Waterman acknowledged.

To the Government, she suggested a closer look at policies in countries like Australia, New Zealand, Ghana and Uganda, but for citizens, Waterman stressed the onus is now on staying within the “family bubble”.

“Stay within your own bubble which means you should not be interacting with others and pulling people from the neighbourhood. While you need to stay in contact with elder persons from the community etcetera, if you have to deliver something for an elderly person in the community, be very mindful that you observe all of the protocols,” she added. (KS)