“Train our own, grow our own” the pathway for nursing stability in Am Samoa

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Train our own and grow our own, is now a daily challenge for the LBJ hospital management, while employing overseas expertise in an effort to avoid the shortage of nurses in American Samoa.

LBJ hospital CEO Dr. Akapusi Ledua said their vision is to develop our own local workforce, "Which is the main reason why LBJ is going through the American Samoa Community College Nursing program, is for sustainability, besides LBJ's own program for nurses.”

Dr. Ledua said, ASCC's nursing program is in place, which is something that will help the hospital in the long term.

"This is a workforce development for our nurses from LPN to RN and onwards.

LBJ Hospital is also working to form an agreement with Chaminade University from Hawaii to help American Samoa with developing its nursing workforce.

 “However, the partnership hasn’t started yet, as they'd need to have an official signed agreement,” said Dr Ledua.

"We were supposed to have them all together this week, with Thai USA, but somehow they [Chaminade University personnel] weren’t able to make the last Thursday flight.

"It's now a matter of setting up another date for them to come down where we will introduce the program, and the partnership with them,"

Recruiting nurses from overseas includes several from Fiji who have to go through the U.S. Certification Test locally, whereas the Thai nurses were already U.S. certified before they arrived.

"The Thai nurses come with different specialties, like working in the Medical Surgical, ICU, Operating room, Emergency, even dialysis Nurses. Based on our need, we communicate with Thai USA, and ask for more nurses in specialties, (if needed).

"Once we start the program with Chaminade University that is specifically for our own local nurses, and LBJ pays for it,” Dr. Ledua said. "Because Thai Nurses, Fiji Nurses and Philippine Nurses are only temporary.

"We're hoping to train our own and grow our own" and the reason for hiring from overseas is because of the shortage, says the CEO.

LBJ Human Resources director Rowena Reid's thoughts on the issue of building the local workforce reveals a different insight.

“Some CNA and LPN would rather remain that way. They don’t want to progress to another level, but we want to motivate them. It's a joy when a CNA becomes a LPN,” Reid said.

(CNA is a Certified Nursing Assistant also known as a patient care assistant or a nurse’s aid. An LPN is a Licensed Practical Nurse who performs basic medical tasks, including taking patients’ vital signs.)

"LBJ management is also looking at their RN salaries, as that is always going to be the argument.  Their salaries are structured differently but how can it be matched with overseas nurses?

“LBJ hospital management would like to go together with the Department of Education DOE, if it's done right, the program could be inserted into the high schools, where students can sit Math and Science courses, instead of waiting to do that in college. They can come out of high school and go straight into CNA, as this person has already met requirements from high school.

“The question of, what do you want to be when you grow up, can be even asked in elementary schools. This is our island in need of nurses and we shouldn't be looking outside.”

HR director Reid thinks it would take time to turn hundreds of high school graduates into lab techs, patient care technicians and other health care professional. In the meantime, LBJ is contracting overseas nurses temporarily while growing its own and training its own nurses for sustainability. 

BACKGROUND

The Chaminade University Honolulu MOU awaiting to be officially signed aims at supporting the education, training, and professional development of LBJ medical staff. It entails two primary objectives: First, it offers opportunities for advanced education and clinical training; and Second, it streamlines higher education opportunities and facilitates NCLEX (National Council Licensure Examination) preparation.