THE EDITOR, Sir: IN MY opinion, our 'union' - Nurses Association of Jamaica (NAJ) - does nothing for nurses.
In some workplaces nurses are forced to work as much as 13 hours a day without extra pay or even lunch breaks at times. These long hours phase out overtime(sessions) burdening the few on duty. The workload is extremely heavy.
Nurses may be assigned to as many as 24 patients if they end up working alone on a ward. They may ask their supervisors for additional help, they may be ignored, be given the run around or even be rude to; Yet the nurse is expected to address each patient's every need immediately.
The nurse faces a lot of demotivation daily, such as being cursed by patients, their relatives, the superiors and doctors. If an incident should occur, no proper investigation is usually done. The nurses are immediately reprimanded even when they're not at fault.
Nurses make claims for hours worked, but the supervisors are the persons who decide what nurses get paid for. A level one nurse's net salary is under $30,000 per month. Nurses have to re- register with the Nursing Council every two years through obtaining 60 hours, which includes attending seminars with may cost approximately $3,000 for two hours.
These are reasons why nurses leave. It is almost impossible to live and have a family on a salary like that or to work under these conditions. There is no way we would have really agreed to a three per cent increase wage freeze. We had no say in the matter.
I am, etc.,
SANDY BROWN
san_brow@yahoo.com
Kingston
Via Go-Jamaica
