With an increasing loss of nursing talent to higher-paying overseas markets, Barbados is moving to strengthen retention efforts while expanding domestic training.
Minister of Health and Wellness, The Most Honourable Senator Dr Jerome Walcott, said the outflow had become “more acute in recent years” as the island struggled to match the remuneration and benefits offered by larger, wealthier nations.
He was delivering the feature address at the 52nd annual general meeting of the Regional Nursing Body (RNB) recently at the Savannah Hotel, Hastings, Christ Church.
“As a result, we are facing staffing shortages that increase patient-to-nurse ratios, create longer shifts, which can lead to stress and burnout in some cases, and ultimately can compromise the quality of patient care,” Walcott told the audience, which included senior nursing officials from across the Caribbean, health administrators, and representatives of regional and international agencies.
With Barbados’ nurse-to-population ratio at 43 per 10 000 – about one nurse for every 234 people – the minister said the situation was particularly concerning in light of an ageing population, rising non-communicable diseases and steady workforce attrition.
To bolster staffing, he said Barbados had turned to carefully managed overseas recruitment under a memorandum of understanding with Ghana. Since 2020, the island has welcomed 220 Ghanaian nurses in three cohorts, with the latest group arriving last October. They specialise in critical care, operating theatre procedures, ophthalmology, psychiatry and cardiac services.
However, Walcott said recruitment alone would not solve the crisis, noting that a long-term solution required sustained investment in local training, career progression and workplace reforms.
He outlined a suite of initiatives designed to build domestic capacity. These include a master instructor programme developed with Chamberlain University, offering professional development credits from the American Nurses Credentialling Centre, and training for nursing and midwifery educators in clinical simulation through the University of Michigan School of Nursing.
Continuous professional development programmes are also being rolled out in mental health, midwifery, paediatrics and gerontology.
A key plank of the strategy is the creation of a new category of advanced practice nurse, giving practitioners greater clinical autonomy and enhanced responsibilities. Training for nurse practitioners is already under way through another Chamberlain University partnership, while the Shaw Centre for Paediatric Nursing – in collaboration with the Kids of Toronto organisation – is equipping nurses to earn a diploma in paediatric care.
Walcott said amendments to the Nurses Act 2008 were being prepared to formally expand the scope of practice for nurses and midwives, enshrine the advanced practice role and create clearer pathways for career progression within the profession.
“This legislative evolution not only seeks to empower nurses, it also signals a transformative step towards modernising health care delivery and retaining high-quality talent within the health care system in Barbados,” he said.
On the academic side, he said Government was working to improve remuneration for nurse educators in order to attract and retain teaching talent, which he argued was crucial to improving programme quality. The administration has also reintroduced stipends for all students enrolled in the four-year Bachelor of Science in general nursing programme to ease the financial burden of training.
“Investing in nurses is therefore not just a health priority, it is an economic imperative,” he stressed. “A healthy population drives a productive economy and at the heart of that health are nurses serving, leading and caring across all levels of the system.”
He commended the RNB for more than five decades of advancing harmonisation in nursing education, regulation and professional standards.
The minister noted that through the body’s work, the region now benefits from the Regional Examination for Nurse Registration, shared accreditation standards, and strengthened regulatory frameworks that facilitate professional mobility and career advancement.
However, he cautioned that the profession stood at a “pivotal crossroads” and will need to adapt to new realities, including climate change impacts on health and the influence of “Dr Google” on patient expectations and care.
“The future of Caribbean health care is not just a vision, it is a promise that we share together through investment, innovation and integrity.”
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