THE REGIONAL EXAMINATION for nurses’ registration needs to be amended.
First, let me say that after spending three years at the Barbados Community College, the nursing body are the only people still taking exams and putting in extra hours just to sit the regional exam.
This is grossly unfair and tiring for a person like me, who is a registered nurse. Secondly, nursing students who take this exam (RENR) are only given two chances after the initial sitting.
If you have unsuccessfully exhausted these chances, you are now left with an Associate Degree and still are considered a nursing assistant.
Nowhere else in the world is this practice allowed! In extra-regional countries it matters not how long people take to pass their exams. They are guaranteed that they will be able to practise their profession after being successful.
In the Caribbean nurses who fail to pass the RENR are asked to re-apply to the college and do another three years of the same training which they have gone through before.
This is an injustice and needs to be addressed. There must be a better way to handle people who maybe unable to pass this written examination.
What about orally examining, these persons to really ascertain if they are truly not able to become a nurse.
I think it’s time for us nurses to stand united and to put our feet down and dictate the pace. There is strength in numbers and we can make a difference.
BERNADETTE KING
