Continuing the commitment to advancing health care education in the Caribbean, St. Augustine Private Hospital (SAPH) has launched its Department of Health Education’s introductory courses for surgical scrub and anaesthetic technicians.
The surgical scrub and anaesthetic technician courses are one-year comprehensive, blended certificate level programmes that will equip aspiring healthcare professionals with essential skills and hands-on experience. There will be nine months of e-learning with a three-month apprenticeship period.
Chairman of the St. Augustine Private Hospital, Dr. Haffiz Warris, said this is more than a training course, it’s a journey into the heart of medicine.
“This programme was developed with that purpose in mind, to close the gap, the skills gap, to offer opportunity, and to build excellence from the ground up.”
National Nursing Administrator Sherma Alexander-Campbell urged the cohort to practise compassion with their patients and their families, as this makes the difference in the provision of quality healthcare.
“You want to give care that promotes recovery, and you want to give support to others as they go through illness in their lives. So be positive, be non-judgmental in your attitude. Is it a tall order? Some may say we are all humans, right? But we are the ones who chose to be professionals.”
Keynote speaker, Head of the Nursing School at the University of the West Indies, Dr. Oscar Noel Ocho, highlighted the importance of the relationship between nurses and their patients through these courses.
“We have seen the evolution of clinical medicine that includes the use of telehealth for surgical interventions or even laparoscopic surgical interventions, but there can be no such technologically advanced interventions to replace the value of the therapeutic touch in the nurse-patient relationship.”