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QEH may fill nursing void with returnees
THE QUEEN ELIZABETH HOSPITAL (QEH) is considering recruiting returning nationals to fill its shortage of nurses.
Director of Human Resources Charmaine Napoleon-Ramsay said the hospital was trying to find creative ways to fill vacancies there. As of the end of October, there were 36 nursing vacancies.
“A lot of persons are interested in returning to Barbados from the US and Canada and other places and we have had some interest expressed by Barbadians who are willing to return home to work,” she said during a media briefing by the hospital’s executive members at the Savannah Hotel on Monday.
Napoleon-Ramsay added that they were still looking to recruit nurses from places like the Philippines once again.
In addition, a two-day job fair held at the Savannah Hotel recently was successful in getting nurses who graduated from the Barbados Community College to sign on.
Director of Nursing Services Bernadette Harris explained that the Ministry of the Civil Service created a new position - that of graduate nurse - for those nurses who had taken the regional exam and were awaiting the results.
“The QEH has 20 of those positions created. To date, as we speak, we’ve got the results from the General Nursing Council and as of December 21, we will have 12 new registered nurses in position and 13 graduate nurses, giving us 25 additional nurses,” she said, pointing out that the hospital had a complement of 423 registered nurses.
Harris said that with a new High Dependency Unit on the cards, which is supposed to take some of the pressure off the Intensive Care Units and Recovery Room, more nurses would be needed.
However, Napoleon-Ramsay said the recruitment drive was not only limited to nurses. The QEH was also looking for medical lab technicians, rehab therapists, anaesthesiologists, radiographers and “we’re also in the process of recruiting a person to fill the post of director of medical services”. (MR) (Nation News)