Pricey nursing programmes hit snag - Hinders overseas job placements

Licensed practical nursing (LPN) programmes which have been attracting significant intake in local schools, some of which which created new faculties for them because of the promise of the labour ministry to place certified nurses in Canadian jobs, have hit a snag.

Marmicmon Integrated Marketing and Communications (Marmicmon IMC), which is contracted to source employment in Canada for successful graduates of the programme, is now stating that many trainees have been facing difficulty in completing the clinical aspect of their programme and so remain unqualified for jobs to date.

The result has been that many remain unplaced for employment, and local trainers in several local colleges have put their programme on hold until the problem has been resolved. Meanwhile, some 80 students who have only now managed to complete training are awaiting placement in Canada.

At the pre-university School in Kingston and Montego Bay where training costs moved from J$270,000 to J$350,000 for the 18-month course, the programme has been put on hold.

This year's programme should have kicked off in June.

School director Camilla Campbell was unavailable for comment, but an inside source said the last set of trainees is yet to complete the programme as the clinical training remains undone.

Alwyn Miller, the communications manager at Marmicmon IMC, which is located in Okanagan Falls, British Columbia, said Wednesday that students needed only to complete the theory and clinical components of the programme to be eligible to travel overseas.

But the school administrations are facing significant challenges in arranging clinical practice in hospitals "despite the fact that the hospitals continue to be grossly understaffed and overworked" and completion of clinical experiences is a requirement of the Canadian Practical Nursing Regulatory Authority.

The training of Canadian practical nurses has not been suspended, Miller said.

"It is true that Marmicmon has an understanding with the local Jamaican partners that the job market must be reassessed at the end of training of each cohort to ensure that there has been no unexpected change in policy or practice that might affect the programme's delivery and sustainability," he told Sunday Business.

"The training process is being reviewed and revised as the partners have agreed that we cannot, in good conscience, continue to deliver the complete programme in Jamaica if the students will be unjustly obstructed from receiving the important clinical experience in the hospitals."

The Marmicmon spokesman said more consideration should be shown by local health authorities as the students "are self-funded and are seeking to accept employment in Canada where there currently remains significant need for Canadian Licensed Practical Nurses."

As soon as an arrangement on how clinical experience would be executed is agreed, Miller said, then enrolment and registration would begin for new cohorts.

The Ministry of Labour and Social Security, while a partner to the process of employment and migration of all Canadian programmes, is not responsible for placement.

Sunday Business was referred to Marmicmon for clarification of the issue.

Marmicmon IMC said its job is to source employment in Canada for successful graduates of the programme.

optional service

"Our services are contracted by the Jamaican academic institutions, and placement is an optional service offered to the students. In every programme that we are involved with, we make an assessment of the current and forecasted local and North American job market and the growth within the industry before we partner for a programmes delivery," Miller said.

The Jamaican students undertaking the Canadian practical nursing programme were interviewed in September 2009 by Canadian employers that Marmicmon brought directly to Jamaica.

The students were issued fulltime, conditional job offers by the employers.

"Since the students had not completed their programme as yet, it was conditional."

Miller indicates that 80 students only just completed their clinical and theory in July 2010.

"The documentation of each graduate is now being reviewed by the Canadian practical nursing regulatory authority in order for them to receive a licence to practise, and once that has been issued, the student's visa applications will be submitted through the Ministry of Labour and Social Security to the Canadian High Commission," the Marmicmon representative said.

"Provided that the students have completed the programme and have no medical issues or criminal history that would result in the refusal of their application for a Canadian visa and work permit, they will be leaving for Canada as soon as possible."

Attempts to elicit information from the Ministry of Health on LPN training were not successful.

The programme was officially launched in September 2009 as a partnership of the Government ofJamaica, the Centre For Nursing Studiesin Canada, and Marmicmon.

Training sites are at the Nuttall Hospital in Kingston; Brown's Town Community College in St Ann; and the Spaldings campus of the Knox Community College in Clarendon.

The pre-university school has rolled out its own programmes.

avia.collinder@gleanerjm.com