Regional Nursing Body focused on better health outcomes through quality management
The Regional Nursing Body (RNB) is on a trajectory to improve health outcomes for the people of the Caribbean community through harmonising standards, training, and assessment tools for nurses.
This has been the focus of four days of discussion undertaken by stakeholders in the nursing profession at the Caricom Secretariat’s Headquarters in Georgetown, Guyana.
Policy and clinical management professionals during a working session
Thirty-one (31) policy and clinical management professionals participated in the Fifty-Third Joint Meeting of the Executive and Education Committees and the Twenty-Second Meeting of the Practice Committee of the RNB under the chairmanship of Ms Nester Edwards, Chief Nursing Officer of the Ministry of Health, Wellness and Religious Affairs of Grenada.
In her address to the meeting, Ms Helen Royer, Director of Human Development at the Caricom Secretariat, emphasized the unwavering commitment of stakeholders to advancing quality in nursing, and underscored the dedication that is evident in the nursing community.
Dr Serena Bender-Pelswijk, Deputy Programme Manager for Health Sector Development at the Caricom Secretariat, underscored the integral role of these discussions in developing and refining the tools and policies used to advance the nursing profession in the Region.
The RNB, as the advisory body on matters related to the education, practice and regulation of nurses and midwives, plays a crucial role in improving nursing and its contribution to health care in the Region. It also provides advisory services to member states on request and as mandated by the conference of ministers responsible for health, ensuring that nursing standards are constantly evolving and improving.
The RNB identifies the need for basic, post-basic, and continuing nursing education programmes that align with current trends in nursing and health care in the Region. Among its other strategic objectives, it promotes developing, implementing and evaluating quality assurance programmes in nursing and health care.
