Health Ministry Launches New Competency Standards for Practical Nurses

The Ministry of Health yesterday (March 23) launched new competency standards for health care assistants, which will be used by institutions offering training in practical nursing.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dr. Grace Allen Young, who delivered the main address at the launch held at the Ministry’s downtown Kingston offices, said that the new standards, which guide the healthcare given to patients, would provide for standardized training and competency assessment and improved quality of care.
According to the Permanent Secretary, the National Council on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (NCTVET) has already started the process, with the training of more than 20 persons to reassess personnel and facilities.
Noting that the assessments would be done on a phased basis, Dr. Allen-Young explained that persons now operating in nursing homes would be evaluated based on the new standards and arrangements would be made to fill any gaps. She assured that persons already in training programmes would be facilitated, while the new curriculum would come into effect in September for new programme entrants.
Dr. Allen Young further informed, that development of new competency standards for practical nurses, would also entail a name change to ‘health care assistants’ complete with the adoption of one standard uniform across the public and private sectors.
Meanwhile, she said that the Ministry would be seeking legislation to facilitate increased responsibility and accountability of the professionals. She noted that when the law was promulgated, they would also be licensed.
She further indicated the Ministry intention to establish a council to register professionals, who met the stated requirements.
In his remarks, Health Minister, John Junor, said that the new standards would provide the opportunity for persons without the required Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) passes, to enter the programme and have a career path, which would lead them up to the bachelor level. “This is where we are heading,” he said, noting that with regard to the available opportunities for training in the field, Jamaica was ahead of the game.
Registrar of the Nursing Council of Jamaica, Thelma Deer Anderson, noted that there was a “chronic shortage” of professional nurses and called for plans to be put in place to improve services.
She lauded the Ministry’s efforts to regulate the health care system, noting that the introduction of competency standards would vastly improve the quality of health care delivery.
The standards are a collection of units of competency that have been endorsed by sector professionals and cover a range of work functions and activities of practical nurses.
They provide the framework for planning and implementing relevant training programmes and assessment schemes to improve professional competence and the quality of service delivery, and were developed through partnership with the NCTVET and the Education, Youth and Culture Ministry, through its Independent Schools Department.