Health lessons

Nursing students on training stint in Barbados

By Anesta Henry

Clinical nurse educator at Duke University School of Nursing
Nicole Forlan is giving top marks to this island’s polyclinics for the suite of services offered to the public and the holistic approach to healthcare.
“The polyclinic system is a whole foundation for my nursing philosophy that I take back with me to my home country. The advocacy and the level of care that’s provided here is very influential, and that’s why we are very excited to have this partnership because it really helps to shape our nurses for their future,” she said.
Speaking to the media on Monday at the Barbados Community College (BCC) where an orientation ceremony for ten students from the North Carolina, United States-based university was being held, Forlan said: “I see a lot of opportunities for us to learn and take things that work here in the clinics back to our country. I don’t see similarities in the sense that I feel like here in Barbados there is a lot of holistic care when you come into the clinics, addressing all the needs.
“If you come in to get a prescription refilled you will also have time to talk about life, your job, your family and those are some things that we don’t see a lot of back home in America and those are things that would be very beneficial for us to have in our community health clinics,” Forlan said.
The students are in Barbados to participate in a two-week training programme hosted by BCC and the Ministry of Health and Wellness.
Forlan, who is also a Woman Nurse Health Practitioner, said she participated in the exchange programme between BCC and Duke University School of Nursing as a nursing student, eight years ago.
Having visited Barbados multiple times since that first trip, for personal reasons, Forlan said she has advised her cohort of students to have an open mind and take the opportunity to learn as much as they possibly can from Barbados’ healthcare system.
“I feel like another important piece of this experience is for them to come in humbly and be open to learning new ways of doing things and that we are not experts by any means back home and that there are multiple ways of doing things,” she added.
BCC’s Principal Annette Alleyne, said during the orientation that since the signing of the inter-institutional agreement between Duke and the BCC in 2007, the collaboration between the two institutions has been ongoing. The visit of the overseas contingent has been a welcome and prominent feature of the BCC calendar through the years.
Alleyne said the collaboration with Duke University and the reciprocal exchanges have enhanced and strengthened BCC’s nursing programme.
“The BCC is the institution that provides the training for nurses in the island and it has resulted in facilitating a highly-qualified competent cadre of workers of the healthcare sector in the island. The fact that nurses trained in Barbados at the BCC are highly recruited locally, regionally and internationally is a testament to the quality of graduates of the programme.
“The nursing programme at the BCC also continues to be of national interest and is one of the areas where we are keen to involve stakeholders so that we can meet the national needs and maintain a relevant high-quality programme,” Alleyne said.
Deputy Chief Public Health Nurse at the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Larone Hylande, explained that the visiting students will be attached to four of the nine polyclinics where they will be assigned to work as public health nurses.
Hylande gave the assurance that the training programme was designed to ensure that the nursing students get a comprehensive view of the services delivered in primary healthcare in Barbados.
Hylande said the students will be exposed to areas such as general practice, preventative care, vaccination, antenatal care, and child health.
“They usually find it extremely interesting. We take them out into the community to see our community-based services, so they get to visit some of the homes and institutions attached to the various polyclinics.
“And they have come at a good time because this is Vaccination Week in the Americas so they will get to see the roll-out of that programme and the open days in the polyclinics where people can walk in and get vaccines and they can also participate in the outreach programme on Saturday,” Hylande said.
anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb