Malpractice lawsuits may be on the increase if the migration of experienced nurses from Antigua & Barbuda and the Caribbean continues, the head of a regional school of nursing has warned.
Dr Oscar Ocho, dean of the University of the West Indies School of Nursing based in St Augustine Trinidad, made the remarks while commenting on the age-old problem of nurse migration in Antigua & Barbuda.
Dr Ocho said the population of the region has become “more conscious and sensitive of their legal rights” as it relates to not just doctors but other health professionals.
“If we continue to have serious, not brain-drain, but migration of the experienced, [nurses] the economic implication of settling lawsuits or potential lawsuits, there will be an increase,” Dr Ocho told OBSERVER media.
Superintendent of Public Health Nursing in Antigua & Barbuda, Coralita Joseph said last week that the nurse migration problem had not abated and suggested that better remuneration may be one solution to keeping nurses at home. (The Daily Observer)
