Partnership trains nurses in Trinidad and Tobago
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As a nurse, Shirley Benjamin always wanted to specialize in the care of cancer patients, a passion fueled by observing how many health professionals in Trinidad and Tobago left their needs unmet.
Her passion for finding better ways to improve care led her to enroll in a three-year post-diploma, BScN-linked Oncology Nursing Program in Trinidad developed by McMaster University's School of Nursing in partnership with the University of the West Indies School of Advanced Nursing Education (SANE).
The goal of the program is to prepare Trinbagonian nurses for leadership roles in cancer care nursing in Trinidad and Tobago where cancer is a significant health problem among its 1.2 million citizens. The program builds on an earlier eight-month experience in 2001 when 12 nurses participated in McMaster's on-site oncology nursing program and became “formidable advocates” for nursing and cancer care in Trinidad and Tobago.
Over the past three years, the program was delivered through a blend of face-to-face and distance learning. At the start and end of each semester, McMaster faculty traveled to Trinidad and Tobago for two weeks to teach. For the balance of each semester, McMaster faculty taught from Hamilton.
For the past month, Benajmin and three of her nursing colleagues have been at McMaster
where they have been exposed to the latest advances in cancer treatment along with first-hand experience in advanced patient care.
Their packed agenda included a lecture and workshop at the Juravinski Cancer Centre, visits to the Bob Kemp Hospice and McMaster's Health Sciences Centre for Simulation Based Learning among other things.
Carolyn Ingram, associate professor in the School of Nursing and project co-ordinator, said the nurses strongly value the program and say it “will be tremendously valuable in advancing their own practice and improving cancer care delivery in their country.”
“It opened up oncology in a new way for me,” said Paula Washington, a nurse in the program. “It changed the way I interact with my patients, my children and my family.”
In keeping with its capacity-building goal, the University of the West Indies will now assume full responsibility for the program and continue to run it independently this fall.
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