Linden nursing school in curriculum checkup 

DPI, GUYANA, Monday, September 17, 2018

The Charles Rosa School of Nursing in Linden is reviewing the institute’s curriculum so as to improve nursing education for its students.

Principal Tutor Hilary Christopher told the Department of Public Information (DPI) that it is hoped that with the review the learning environment will be more student-friendly and the pass rate would increase.

Over the years, the training capacity of the school has expanded moving from an initial 63 students to an average of 223. Christopher said the school trains students from the ten administrative regions but the primary regions are from the hinterland – Regions One, Seven, Eight, Nine and Ten.

With the school’s growing population, reviewing the curriculum is therefore crucial for the school to effectively train students to meet the healthcare needs of the citizens.

“Over the years, we have been having larger intakes, our initial cut off points were 35 for registered nurses, 20 to 25 for nursing assistants, 20 post basic and 20 single trained. We have been taking in an average of 45 professional nurses, 30 nursing assistants, 25 single trained nurses. So, we will also be looking at more capacity building for our teachers so they will be able to use advanced technology.”

Cameras for live feedback from students, clinical instructors to help students translate theory into practice and instructional manuals are other measures that will be looked at to further augment learning skills. Even as the school awaits these new improvements, Christopher noted that to date the students are performing well.

“We have an average now of about 76 to 78 per cent pass rate at any one examination for the Registered Nurses. For the Nursing Assistants, our pass rates are higher usually in the 90 to 100. The midwifery, our success rate has been down but that also had success in the 90 to 100. Nevertheless, we have a high completion rate.”

Christopher indicated that the expansion of the western side of the building to cater for a new practise room is still on the cards. The extension is paramount as it would enable the school to implement some of the things learnt from training at the University of Miami. It would also enable students to have sufficient simulation exercises so they can perform better on the job.  This extension along with more staff is expected by 2019.

By: Ranetta La Fleur.

Image: Department of Public Information.