EDITORIAL: Holding on to trained nurses

Fri, February 10, 2012 - 12:00 AM

Wherever there are human beings, there will be ill health and the need for doctors and nurses.

But this seemingly harmless statement leads to problems simply because we have too few nurses. Hence, we find that nurses and, for that matter, doctors too, in poorer countries are always being recruited by hospitals operating in countries which can afford better salaries.

It may simply be a question of supply and demand, or it may be a question of personal advancement. But in matters of life and death, it becomes a very serious issue for those charged with the public responsibility of managing our health care facilities.

Modern health care management necessarily increases the demand for nurses, since a network of polyclinics is required not only to take the load off our lone public hospital, but also to assist in the approach of prevention.

These issues and related concerns were addressed by Dr Ernest Pate, the Caribbean programme director of PAHO/WHO who was addressing the Barbados Nurses’ Association general meeting held here recently.

Dr Pate drew attention to the large numbers of nurses leaving the region, and remarked on the nature of that development, in view of the World Bank’s 2010-2011 report which showed that those leaving were not the recent graduates from schools but those nurses at the middle level of the profession who had long left nursing school and had garnered valuable on-the-job experience.

It was this group, having developed the capacity to mentor and supervise the younger nurses, that were being attracted out of the regional profession. This is not surprising for the report itself shows that there is a global deficit of some 2.4 million nurses.

Looked at from a financial perspective, the problem is a very serious one especially for developing countries with strained finances and a pressing need to improve health care for its people.

According to the report, it takes about 14 years for Government to recoup the cost of training each nurse and, of course, once a nurse migrates, the local nursing deficit is aggravated and the investment in training is lost.

But reversing this brain drain does not admit of an easy solution. One might think that higher earnings are the attraction, and in some cases, it is. Yet, as Dr Pate pointed out, in many instances it is not just the salary.

Some nurses may migrate simply for upward mobility in the profession or for reasons of job security or even to escape the violence on the job which is a worrisome and emerging evil that must be stopped.

It makes no sense training nurses and then making no effort to retain them when there is a local deficit in the very countries paying for that training.

We therefore agree with those regional countries that have begun to look at ways of trying to induce trained and experienced nurses to remain on the job. It makes sense and, moreover, it is the only solution in a democratic society.

Nobody can be forced to forgo the blandishments of recruiters from other countries, but the total working environment for our nurses must be examined if we are to hold on to our middle range experienced nurses.

They are a most precious asset.