Nine nursing faculty from across Haiti are attending a two-week training led by Regis nursing faculty on the Regis Weston campus through the ‘Regis in Haiti’ program. The visiting faculty teach in each of Haiti’s state-run nursing schools, Ministry of Health, and various teaching hospitals. Through completion of this training funded by a Wagner Foundation grant, the Haitian nurses will learn how to incorporate the use of simulation labs into their personal teaching practice at their home institutions.
Simulation education is an essential tool for enhancing the clinical skills of student and novice nurses. Simulation laboratories offer opportunities to gain practical experience working with manikins and increased preparation for treating patients in clinical settings.
“By assisting our colleagues with the integration of simulation education into their existing curricula, we aim to elevate clinical nursing practice and increase healthcare access, equity, and patient outcomes in Haiti,” said President Antoinette Hays, PhD, RN. “In addition to the Haitian Ministry of Health, Regis is grateful for the strategic partnership of the Wagner Foundation and Partners In Health who have made the important work within the ‘Regis in Haiti’ program possible.”
The program is funded by a grant from the Wagner Foundation awarded to Regis in 2019. As a result of Wagner Foundation’s investment, Regis and the Ministry of Health have worked with partners on the ground including Health Equity International/St. Boniface Hospital and Partners In Health/Zanmi Lasante/Hopital Universitaire de Mirebalais on initiatives that strengthen the nursing profession such as the current on campus training in simulation teaching methods.
The Regis Haiti Project, began in 2007 with a collaboration between university nursing faculty and the Haitian Ministry of Health to teach and train nurse leaders and educators so that they can better prepare the next generation of providers. Since the start of the program, a total of 37 core nursing faculty and clinical practitioners working in both Haitian public and private nursing schools graduated with a master’s degree from Regis. Two of those faculty are in the current simulation education training cohort at Regis this week.
“I look forward to encouraging the faculty to put into practice the techniques we have learned during this training and then to evaluate the outcomes in student preparedness, said Natacha Fresnel Mainsou, Head of Basic and Continuing Education for the Haitian Ministry of Health and Population. “The addition of simulation education will be transformative to both nursing education and the patient experience in Haiti.”
