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Date of Report:
07/2005
Source:
Florida/Caribbean AETC
When Dr. Gloria Callwood, Chair of the Division of Nursing Education at the
University of the Virgin Islands and Dr. Ophelia Torres, Trainer and
Assistant Professor, attended an intensive and comprehensive AETC training
on HIV/AIDS in Florida in 2002, it was the beginning of great change for
nurses' education in HIV/AIDS care and treatment in the Virgin Islands. A
needs assessment of clinicians conducted following that training found that
HIV/AIDS was one of the top 10 gaps in knowledge for health professionals in
the Virgin Islands. Consequently, they developed trainings on HIV/AIDS care
and treatment and the AETC sent faculty each month to the Virgin Islands.
Seeing the tremendous difference that HIV/AIDS training could make in
clinical practice and for patients living with HIV/AIDS, the Virgin Islands
Local Performance Site of the Florida/Caribbean AETC proposed mandatory
HIV/AIDS training to the Virgin Islands' Board of Nurse Licensure. In March
2005, for the first time in the Virgin Islands, the Board mandated HIV/AIDS
training for nurses! All nurses must now demonstrate that they have received
five of their 15 contact hours of training on HIV/AIDS in order to have
their nursing licenses renewed bi-annually. In the Caribbean, the prevalence
of HIV/AIDS in the Virgin Islands is second only to that of Haiti.
Therefore, the implications of this policy level intervention are
significant.
Since this training was mandated, there have been significant changes in
HIV/AIDS education in the Virgin Islands. There has been a four-fold
increase in training participants and trainings offered this summer have
been standing room only! Nurses are rushing to receive their mandatory
training prior to the bi-annual December license renewal deadline. All areas
of the nursing curriculum at the University of the Virgin Islands now
include HIV/AIDS education and new graduates are grandfathered in as having
met this requirement.
Having achieved this success for nurses, plans are underway to make HIV/AIDS
education mandatory for ALL medical professionals in the Virgin Islands. For
more information on mandatory HIV/AIDS education for nurses in the Virgin
Islands, please contact Dr. Ophelia Powell Torres at
otorres@uvi.edu
or (340) 693-1254. For
additional information on training or licensure, please contact the
Florida/Caribbean AETC at (813) 974-4430 or the Board of Nurse Licensure of
the Virgin Islands at (340) 776-7131.
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