BHB Nurses Complete Cross Training Course

Eight Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB) nurses are graduating at a ceremony on Thursday, March 8, after completing a specially designed, cross-training course in caring for children and adolescents with mental health problems. The ceremony will take place at 4:00pm at Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute.

Accredited by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), the yearlong course, Mental Health Matters, prepared nurses to work with young people receiving care at Child and Adolescent Services (CAS), a programme offered through MWI. CAS is expanding to include an inpatient unit and day hospital and additional trained psychiatric nurses were needed.

Last year, CAS staff developed the cross training curriculum and produced a training manual. To ensure the programme met international standards, it was submitted for RCN certification and was granted approval in October- an international milestone for both MWI and CAS.

Graduates of Mental Health Matters received both theoretical and practical training and are now qualified to make initial assessments, analyze presenting symptoms, offer recommendations and assist in completing care plans for children and adolescents.

Tawanna Wedderburn, acting family therapist at CAS said, “Because these nurses are trained to work in both medical and psychiatric units at the hospitals, staff shortages will be reduced. The course also gives nurses the advantage of applying psychiatric skills in a medical setting, thus improving the quality of patient care. We’d like to congratulate them for their commitment to the mental health of Bermuda´s children and adolescents.”

Graduates include: Vernica Batista-Cabral, Karen Lightbourne, Lovette Lovell, Linda McKinnon, Glenna Rose-Williams, Nicole Jackson, Chandra Persad and Rhonda Smith-Simmons.

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