Nurses begin work to rule

Senior Reporter

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Nurses began the first day of their work to rule yesterday, maintaining a one-to-six patient ratio.

However, nurses at the Barataria Health Centre took a different approach and reportedly stayed home.

Guardian Media visited the facility yesterday after the president of the Trinidad and Tobago National Nursing Association, Idi Stuart, said there was some disruption at the facility caused by nurses embarking on a work to rule.

In a telephone interview, Stuart said the plan to demand and maintain a strict nurse-to-patient ratio is rooted in best wishes for patients.

“It was not the intention of the association to disrupt services, but rather improve services. We are already aware that a number of facilities throughout Trinidad and Tobago have been negatively affected, unfortunately.”

He added that the action is not counterproductive, as international best practices demand one nurse to four patients with his association requesting nurses to care for as many as six patients.

“International research, not the TTNNA, but international research is articulating that once you go beyond that, you compromise the care of all the patients already under your care and the additional patients you take on to see about. So, particularly in situations where, instead of having one to four or five or possibly six patients, you have a situation where one nurse is expected to see about ten patients. What does that mean? It means the four patients that you can safely see about will be compromised.”

Speaking with Guardian Media, a senior nurse at the Barataria Health Centre, who asked not to be named, said the health centre usually has about 12 nurses and all stayed home yesterday. This forced other senior nursing staff from across the North West Regional Health Authority to come out and fill in. The senior nurse added that four senior nurses were made to handle the work of 12. She said the non-attendance of assigned nurses forced the clinic to open about 33 minutes later than scheduled.

Guardian Media also visited the Port-of-Spain General Hospital and the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, where staff at Mt Hope said they saw nurses caring for more than six patients at a time without any issue. At Port-of-Spain, nurses and doctors said the nursing staff were working without issue and had less than six patients, from what they recalled.

Relatives of patients at the two institutions also said that, based on their observations, nurses seemed to be doing their jobs without any problems.

Meanwhile, Stuart said yesterday was day one of a two-month long plan to send a message to the Government, as it was yet to speak with the association as to when nurses and healthcare workers would receive an increase in salaries. Nurses currently work on 2013 salaries with no overtime rates, unlike other public officers.

Calls and messages to Health Minister Dr Lackram Bodoe went unanswered.