A majority of licensed nurses now working at LBJ Hospital are local

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — LBJ Hospital now employs 60 plus local nurses including Licensed Practical and Registered ones, LPNs and RNs.

Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) Simamao Tuato'o says there are now more American Samoa nurses working at LBJ when compared to past years, when nurses from the Philippines had outnumbered the locals.

Most nurses from the Philippines have left after their two-year contracts were up, where before some had stayed up to three terms, before heading off to the United States, she said.

 Some of those nurses received their training here and have contributed their services to LBJ before leaving for overseas.

CMO Tuato'o says she believes in training nurses to become better lifesavers, as they go overseas and save more lives.

"If they go to the US, they'd save and serve more Samoans in America.

"This profession is to help and make a difference."

Foreign workers at LBJ do get local training to improve professionally.

"At the same time they continue to work for the LBJ hospital and if they leave, they can leave with improvements," said the CNO.

Samoa News asked about the status of the latest group of nurses from Fiji, on how they're doing with their certifications?

CNO Tuato'o said, "Of the 21, only three have passed the US status exam besides the 16 that are working as CNA-3.”

The two who haven't passed the exams twice, can still retake the test after 45 days, she said.

 “They are able to work as nurse assistants at LBJ but are not allowed to perform specific nursing duties, like giving an injection to a patient.

“As of now, these nurses are helping out a lot with the shortage of hands at LBJ, and are giving some of the local licensed nurses relief.

“Aside from the language barrier, the 10 Thai nurses are working out well at LBJ,” the Chief Nursing Officer said.