Jamaica’s health care system is in crisis. The problem is that nearly half of its health care workforce routinely leaves the island for opportunities abroad.
This presents a tough challenge for the University of the West Indies (UWI), the largest university in the Caribbean and the region’s largest producer of health care professionals — especially nurses. It’s a tall order to train and retain new nurses quickly enough to replace the ones who leave.
Leaders at the University of South Florida know what a nursing shortage is like because they’ve lived through one in Florida, particularly during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. So a team from USF Health’s College of Nursing and its College of Medicine traveled to UWI and its hospital, the University Hospital of the West Indies in Kingston, to find ways to help them combat the attrition and migration of health care workers — specifically oncology nurses and physicians, which are in particularly short supply.
“The University of the West Indies is the hospital that not only serves that island, but they serve people coming from other Caribbean islands as well. They had developed a plan for a much more comprehensive cancer treatment center,” says Usha Menon, dean of USF’s College of Nursing, who went on the trip. “But because of the number of nurses that get educated and leave the country, they have about a 40% vacancy rate with nursing. You’re looking at places where sometimes entire floors or wards can’t function because they don’t have nurses.”
Nurses are particularly needed for cancer care. They’re vital for cancer screening and treatment.
“Our focus is primarily going to be on ‘skilling up’ oncology care for the island by training the nurses specifically in oncology care — but also using that as an incentive for them to remain. Because they are getting advanced training, and they’re getting paid better,” Menon says. The Jamaican nurses will also get an opportunity to travel to Tampa Bay and immerse themselves in the practice of oncology nurses there.
The USF team’s first trip to Jamaica was in August. Sometime next year they hope to apply for a federal grant to keep the educational program going. USF Health also plans to help establish a Cancer Center of Excellence in Jamaica in an effort to improve patient outcomes, care and treatment delivery.
“They only have one room to deliver chemo at the University Hospital. They have these older, worn chairs. They only have two nurses there,” recalls Audrey Holtzman, communications director at USF’s College of Nursing. “Cancer doesn’t have boundaries. Cancer is everywhere. So it’s really important for us to use the expertise that we have here in Florida to help Jamaica and the other Caribbean islands.”