Regional Examination for Nurse Registration, Commonwealth Caribbean.

In 1990, a Regional Examination for Nurse Registration was approved by the Conference of Ministers Responsible for Health in the Commonwealth Caribbean. The examination allows for standardization and improvement of nursing education, as well as reciprocity and ease-of-movement for Registered Nurses among the countries of the region. A Planning Committee and a Blueprint Committee were established to develop the examination process. Committee membership included the Principal/Chief Nursing Officers, Nurse Tutors, and General Nursing Council representatives of each country, as well as educators from the two universities of the region. The accepted model, based on mutually agreed competencies for the Registered Nurse to practice in the region, forms the basis for the elaboration of the blueprint and the administrative manuals. The treatment of test items, assembling and conducting the examinations, which consist of four papers, as well as scoring the examination results, and notifying students of the results, are the responsibility of each General Nursing Council. The 13 General Nursing Councils with responsibility for Schools of Nursing meet annually as a regional committee to prepare the examinations, using a different country for each meeting; countries are rotated alphabetically. There is no permanent site for the administration of the examination. Membership to the regional committee, known as the Regional General Nursing Councils (RGNCs), is for 3 years. This staggering of membership allows for continuity.

Nursing education trends in the Caribbean.

Today, the professional nurse must be educated to respond to and manage the present and forecasted advances in the health system. They must be innovative, analytical and articulate, which cannot be taught using the traditional apprenticeship methods. Nursing workforce development must of necessity be broad in scope to encompass the socioeconomic, political and health system changes. These changes and trends significantly affect nursing generally, and nursing education specifically.

An economic model for nurse manpower planning in the Caribbean: Part II--Strategies.

Figure 5 illustrates the key ingredients of manpower planning. Whatever model or framework that have or will be considered for the Region must be based on cost containment necessitated by the scarcity of resources. Since the health sector is labour intensive, health manpower is critical for its successful functioning. Approximately 65-70% of the Ministries of Health's recurrent budget is allocated for health personnel. Budgetary restrictions as a result of economic downturn have therefore impacted severely on the manpower resources resulting in a decreased supply of all categories of health workers in the health service. Even the most minimum level of services is therefore jeopardized. Most countries of the Region are at present suffering from a net loss in most of the health professional groups and some countries are without auxiliary groups. In providing quality care, certain questions need to be answered. In the light of decreasing economic resources and accompanying decreasing nurse manpower resources: 1. What degree of substitutability between categories of health manpower generally and specifically, between different categories of nurses will affect their efficient use and provide quality care? 2. What are the least cost combinations of nurse manpower that will ensure greater productivity and quality care? 3. What are the policy restrictions that may hinder substitutability? 4. What are the market forces that affect the demand and supply of nurses? In all of the above, it is necessary to understand that the basis of any nurse manpower policy and plan and the economic analysis of these is guided by the demand for health care and services as well as economics within a given country.

An economic model for nurse manpower planning in the Caribbean--Part 1: The issues.

Below is a noneconomist's view on economic issues impacting on nurse manpower development in the Commonwealth Caribbean. The issues however are of an international nature and are therefore pertinent to all those interested in nurse manpower development. The main objective is to present a model for economic analysis and planning.