A total of 50 individuals are currently undertaking a Patient Care Assistant [PCA] programme being offered by the Ministry of Public Health. Although the programme commenced about a month ago, it was officially launched today in the Resource Centre of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.
Coordinator, Ms. Doneth Mingo said that the programme was introduce since it was recognised that there are individuals within the community who require a level of care less technical than that of a Nursing Assistant and/or a Registered Nurse but yet good enough to deliver an optimum level of care. It was moreover deduced that the training of less technical personnel such as PCAs was an imperative move.
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Some of the Patient Care Assistants in training.
he programme, she revealed, is designed to prepare the PCAs in training to perform the basic nursing skills under the supervision of qualified nursing personnel in order to meet the needs of the residents in the health care setting.
The programme, Mingo informed, will see those in training being exposed to simple concepts and eventually moving to some more complex aspects. The programme will span a period of six months and those who are successful will be furnished with certificates of completion of a recognised professional training course.
Once trained, Chairperson of the GPHC, Ms. Kesaundra Alves said that the duties of this level of professional will encompass a continuum of health care, health promotion, disease prevention, diagnostics, therapeutic and rehabilitative care recovery and palliative care.
Alves pointed out today too that since some of the patients that PCAs have to cater to are persons who are advanced in age training to do so is an essential part of the programme. “Some patients may demand more care depending on their health condition and you may have to assist with daily living activities, observing and charting changes in their health or behaviour, and helping with hygiene and cleanliness,” Alves noted.