Nursing research initiatives critical in elevating healthcare standards – Dr Anthony

Recognising the important role nurses play in the country’s healthcare sector, a call to action was made for local nurses to conduct more research projects on issues affecting the delivery of healthcare and patient care.
On Friday, the Health Ministry hosted a Nurses and Midwives Research Forum, as part of its activities to observe this year’s International Nurses Week, which is celebrated annually on May 6-12.
The event brought together senior health officials from within the nursing community and local nurses.
Speaking at the opening ceremony was Chief Nursing Officer (CNO), Nalinie Dass-Sutton, who highlighted that as part of efforts towards ensuring the Guyanese population receives high quality medical services, her department, in collaboration with the Health Ministry, will be moving to increase research drives within the nursing community.

“It is very important on the level of our department to ensure that nurses are equipped with the knowledge and the competence to provide quality nursing care in Guyana, or services to the populace of Guyana, and so our department, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, will have deemed it necessary, that we focus on research which is fundamental in your practice,” she disclosed.
She added that research should not focus solely on “overworked topics”, such as diabetes and hypertension.
Also speaking at the opening ceremony was Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony, who shared similar sentiments. The Minister highlighted that as the Ministry works to eliminate several diseases such as filaria and leprosy, research findings could significantly bolster its effectiveness in combatting these scourges.
“Right now, in terms of elimination of diseases, we are looking at eliminating filaria from Guyana. We’re looking at eliminating leprosy from Guyana, Leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, and so forth. So, there are a number of diseases that we’re working to eliminate from the country…We want people who are curious, want to learn. Now, so as I said, there are lots of things that can be done in the area of research. And there will be many, many more things that would be happening,” he stressed.
Moreover, Dr Anthony also emphasised that these research findings could significantly contribute to healthcare advances internationally.
“So, when we think about the history of research in Guyana, there are lots of things that we can go back to. And many of the advances that we see in tropical medicine, we had contributors from Guyana or British Guiana at the time, that wrote some of the articles in textbooks such as the Monsoon bars textbook on tropical medicine. But it came from our research. So that’s how research is important, because we can contribute to knowledge. And that’s what we need to pick up back again, that tradition of making sure that we can contribute to medical knowledge.”
This year’s nurse’s week is being celebrated under the theme “Our Nurses. Our Future. Caring for nurses strengthens economies”.
Notably, as part of efforts to push the research drive within the nursing community, the Ministry for the first time will be rolling out its research fund to offset some expenses for nursers conducting research in various areas.