British Virgin Islands Taps UP School of Nursing to Train New Breed of Nurses

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Fourteen nurses from the British Virgin Islands(BVI) have spent the summer in Buffalo-area hospitals and clinics completing their requirements for bachelor's degrees in nursing from UB, which will be conferred in January commencement ceremonies in Tortola, BVI.

The ceremony will cap a novel cooperative effort between the nation's health ministry and the UB School of Nursing, designed to upgrade the level of nursing care in the BVI and help in the overhaul of its health care delivery system.

UB nursing faculty taught courses in the BVI during fall and spring semesters. The students took prerequisites at the island's only institution of higher learning, the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College. The BVI program differed from UB's on-campus baccalaureate program only in the pacing of courses, some of which were delivered in all-day week-long sessions, some twice a week for seven-weeks.

"There was no dumbing-down of the curriulum," said Karen Radtke, Ph.D., associate dean of the UB Nursing school, who taught the courses in pathophysiology. "That was very inportant to everyone."

The nurses can provide novel insights into differences between medical practice in the two settings and tales of life in Buffalo. They leave for the BVI on August 13. Two additional students will arrive this fall for their clinical training.