Nurses are Unveiling the Root Causes of Maltreatment and Systemic Neglect
By Craig Nelson, Freelance Journalist
In a startling revelation, a recent study conducted by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing has shed light on the pervasive issues plaguing the nursing profession globally. Nurses, the largest component of the healthcare workforce, consistently ranked as the most trusted profession in the United States, find themselves facing growing pains, neglect, and overwork, raising concerns about the upkeep of the healthcare system.
Despite their crucial role in patient care and healthcare administration, nurses in Antigua and Barbuda are experiencing a disheartening reality marked by maltreatment and poor working conditions. The root causes of this crisis extend beyond the pursuit of better opportunities due to stagnant pay increases. Reports have indicated that nurses are leaving their profession due to bad conditions, a poor working environment, and a lack of psychosocial support.
Nurses who have stepped forward in solidarity against the current state of their profession highlight a lack of avenues for expressing their concerns. Many have voiced frustration with nursing leaders, including the Director of Nursing and some Nursing Managers, accusing them of making the profession difficult for both current and future nurses. Some have reported a lack of upward mobility, training opportunities, and a perceived lack of competence in leadership.
One nurse, speaking anonymously, expressed weariness with the “fakeness” displayed by nursing leaders who present a positive front to upper management while treating their staff poorly behind the scenes. Nurses argue that in a profession where practitioners are already migrating for better opportunities, providing a safe and encouraging working environment is essential to retaining talent.
A concerning aspect revealed in an investigation is the hierarchical structure within the Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre (SLBMC), where the Director of Nursing falls under the Medical Director, Dr. Albert Duncan. Nurses have expressed doubts about the effectiveness of their leader in addressing their concerns when they are asked to communicate formally with the Medical Director, potentially undermining the autonomy of the nursing leadership.
This hierarchical challenge has raised questions about the focus and authority of nursing leaders within the SLBMC. Research indicates that, internationally, nursing and medicine have parallel leadership structures that complement each other. However, in this instance, the Medical Director appears to hold a more dominant role, overseeing both medicine and nursing.
Nursing leaders, who have chosen to remain anonymous, expressed disappointment in the current state of the profession, reminiscing about a time when a Medical Director would not oversee the administration and practice of registered nurses and midwives. One passionately exclaimed,” this could never have happened in the days of Holberton, a Medical Director could never oversee the administration and practice of our Registered Nurses, Midwives and Allied Health staff”.
As the crisis unfolds, calls for accountability and action have been directed at the Director of Nursing, who is yet to respond to the people’s concerns. The community demands answers regarding the administration’s efforts to address the basic needs, support, and mental wellness of nurses and midwives who serve as key providers in the nation’s healthcare system. The quality of care administered to the citizens is at stake, and urgent measures are needed to address the deteriorating conditions within the nursing profession.
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Unfortunate reality is: apart from the higher wages ( which goes back someway into taxes), Antiguan nurses face alot of the same problems when they go to the US.
A lot* two words
😁
Yea I work in a Federal Hospital in the US and it’s the same story of nurses being overworked, underpaid, under appreciated, stressed, mistreated, but what is funny is that many Caribbean nurses will run to America to work in the same conditions and never once complain, but when they are in their country of origin they are complaining on the picket lines. You are more than willing to comply and be obedient with the white managers of hospitals in the US, CANADA and UK, but you are a different way with the managers in your Caribbean country lol. The cost of living in America is high and the wages nurses make do not amount to them living comfortably. Many nurses work at two hospitals just to be comfortable or make a god living.
Lionman whoever you are, go trade your Federal Nursing Job for a month with a Nurse or any other healthcare professional at SLMBC. Who feels it knows it. I worked at Holberton where the conditions seems much better, and I have experience working in the United States. There’s just no comparison, and while America ain’t no bed of roses, you get your paycheck every two weeks, you get an annual raise, and most importantly you’re in demand and don’t have to take no crap from management. Sorry you don’t have no autonomy in your Fed job.
The fact is that teachers and nurses will never be appropriately compensated as their work falls under the umbrella of social services.
Especially in the Caribbean. They’re the most valuable, not to mention crucial to the health sustenance and educational upliftment of our community.
They however, offer a service that is not income earning to the government’s purse. I don’t have the answers as to the way forward.
What I do know is that we will always have a shortage of both a some will always be in search of greener pastures, as they should if they have that urge.
People should strive to be happy if it will benefit their state of mind.
We simply have to continue to recruiting, training, incentivising when we’re able.
Every green pasture has its own challenges, many of which we’re unable to see from the outside.
May God continue to bless Nurses and Teachers as we will always need them for our survival.
It is about time the challenges of the nurses are highlighted especially when it comes to nursing supervisors. If you are not a news carrier you are the outcast and is not sent on workshops and the study leave and short courses as the others.
They speak to you anyhow and expect that you should just take it where from my understanding all nurses are adults according to the law as you must be over 18 to go to nursing school.
Take a look at the community everything is a mess….
But that is what happens when the entire community is been run for the first time in history by an individual who is not a Public Health Nurse. She can’t put on the brown uniform…. but people seen fit to .are her go into power. These people who are in charge need to get their acts together as the entire health care system will finally fall to shambles.
And for the first time ever in 40years the cmo has no public health training or experience, which is not only standard across the Caribbean but is also the first criterion for selection. The Public Service Commission has a nurse on it who allowed that to happen. Poor us indeed!
We don’t even care anymore because we are all leaving one by one. We no longer have energy to fight for what we deserve. Let the incompetent nurse that they send for from abroad, do the work. They won’t know until they work with them.
And to see they only address stupid things as hair and nails which is important to them and not the well being of their nurses. But that’s none of my business. Carry on
Bottom line.we must take care of our own.stop comparing. Us is us .Canada is Canada. If they are feeling some what mistreated who are we to tell them any other. If we don’t take care of them they will leave n go to other countries not matter under what conditions. N we will bring in other Nurses from other countries who don’t love us as Caribbean ppl.n killing our ppl off by doing alot of things. Don’t have a heart for our ppl don’t care if they die or live.so please Mr health Minister look into the cry of our Nurses and doctors. Bc we love them.
It’s a fact that the managers of slbmc are abusers and manipulators of the younger nurses . They use their power to control and hurt the nurses and when it’s reported nothing is done about it. Instead the younger nurse is penalized because she made a report. Who do we have to fight on our behalf ? Who do we go to to voice our complaints. I am a victim of abuse and manipulation by a manager of the medical ward at the slbmc. And since I have been on that ward working I have never had a good day at work especially when that manager is present. She talks bad about the staff and she discourages us everytime . In turn, the staff, inclusing doctors, cleaners , visitors are afraid to approach her because of her rude , unpleassant , and unprofessional way of dealing with people. Honestly , sometimes we get so scared that in her absent from the ward we find ourselves behaving just like her so that she can be please. There is a senior nurse who was behaving jus like her but of recent she came to her senses and change her attitude . The ward is short staff and other nurses in the hospital refuse to come because of that unit manager . Staff have left and even leaving because of that unit manager . Can somebody be our advocate for once and listen to the voices of the staff of medical. Something need to be done.
Everyday we hear about managers meeting and they talk about the negative aspect of the younger nursesamd then come on the wards and make their demands, when are they going to have a meeting with the nurses and listen to all the abuse (pschological) that we are facing .
They say that the nurses are rude, careless and mistreat patients but it all start from the head , the managers , the ones they put to be leaders and motivators to the younger staff/ nurses . I believe that these managers need to be evaluated on a regular basis especially their managerial skills.
1) In the bureaucracy that is the public service, hiring decisions are seemingly made by persons who know little (no real-world experience) about the position that is being filled and have had no significant prior exposure to the personality or character of the person they are hiring i.e. they don’t work in that field and don’t know all the people working there. So, they look at the paper certificates and prior job experience and decide who gets to be manager based on that alone. Sometimes, manipulative people who know how to play the system move up the ranks to try to get the higher pay and other perks, but they don’t really care about solving actual problems that workers beneath them face. So, when workers want things they squash the workers and the requests so they don’t look bad. This results in an abusive work environment. When hiring managers, the true interest, vision, and personality of the applicants needs to be considered to select persons truly interested in improving the work environment for all. Perhaps a hiring panel containing various knowledge stakeholders including junior staff should be conducting the interviews and making the final hiring decisions.
2) Persons selected for management have certain years of experience but no formal management training. So, they don’t always know how to manage people and resources properly. Perhaps they should be mandated to and provided with the opportunity to take management classes and apply what they are learning during a probationary period.
Great ideas
I think tho it’s about time health care workers have their own commission THE HUMANSERVICE COMMISSION . The members should include persons with social science degrees and Heath degrees. Management degrees would be an asset for the commisioners but a definite MUST for the Chair.
Healthcare requires that phones get answered at 2am , on a Sunday. Its not a 9-5 gig. So why do the vacation forms only include Monday to Friday. Why do persons not get mobile phones. Why do persons have to use their own vehicles on a weekend to do government work. Why do some persons get a duty allowance and others do not. Who gets mileage, who gets gas from motor pool. Maitaining a car is expensive, will I as a health care worker get reimbursed for the17%abst on the frontend parts that I repeatedly damage to provide care to citizens in the buckleyroad and allsaints road areas? noI
s travellingallowance meant to get me to point A and back or point A B C and Q?
I am fed up of the one size fit all approach for all civil servants because longeye and badmind cause alot of people, who sacrifice family and frens to help 100000 citizens, to become bitter and leave (whether for green or orange pastures). One person I know only does real estate now, and another does gardening as trying to help people while losing themselves was no longer worth it. We keep losing loving and trained people but I guess China has 7million people so we can replace ours with a few thousand.uncaring ones.
Nurse Advocate
This article is so on point. The journalist was well informed. No where else in the world a doctor is over nurses. The medical director tells the Director of nursing what she should do with her staff, while his doctors can do what they want. They don’t have to pin up their hair. They can wear nail polish whenever they want. They dress how they want. Nurses are the only ones in the hospital that has a dress code and is verbally abused if they don’t obey it.
Director of nursing needs to grow some balls. Telling they nurses her Boss says they should do this or her Boss says we should do that. The medical director didn’t even work six months out the year. No wonder the whole places is in shambles. The minster better send him back where he came from, he is the worst thing to happen to SLBMC. The nursing director needs to be fired and find a more qualified, nurse manger to report directly to the Board. She is reliable and unfit to manage nursing and nurses affairs. No wondering the nurses running out of SLBMC like massa have a whip behind them a whip them tail.
Director of nursing does not listen to her mangers. The few times she has meetings is to shout insults to the managers and she pays no attention to their challenges and issues they are experiencing in the hospital environment. She needs to resign and allow someone who is more nurse friendly and knows how to manage take up the position. She cut her seniors throats to get the position and nursing is the worst it’s ever been since she took that office.
We the nurses in SLBMC is fed up. We need a change. If the Prime ministers don’t step in to safe the hospital staff from these devils, he will loose the next general election.
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