FACULTY OF MEDICAL SCIENCES
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purchase task trainers to be used for medium fidelity learning. The School’s budget plan also allocated funds to purchase simulators and through an international donor, the School is set to benefit from a free high fidelity simulator. Students’ Achievements The graduating class of 2023 sat the Regional Examination for Nurse Registration (RENR) in April 2023. A significant increase over the 2022 success rate of 85% was achieved, as 97% of the graduates were successful. This success rate is partially attributed to a robust RENR review programme implemented by the UWISON team. Academic Awards At UWISON, students are usually rewarded for overall academic performance, professionalism, interpersonal interaction, and leadership. Rewards included let- ters of commendation, gift certificates, certificates of achievement, enrollment into the Dean’s list and Honour Society of the Faculty of Medical Sciences, and scholarships. Forty-six (46) students were added to the Dean’s list based on their achievement of a GPA of 3.6 and above. Of this number,11 were inducted into the Honour Society, having attained the highest overall GPA for their respective year groups (Table 2). The four (4) nominees for Top Graduand were: Ms. Sadieka Smith, Ms. Catherianna Simms, Ms. Dominque Reece, and Ms. Britney Clarke. Ms. Sadieka Smith was named the 2023 Valedictorian for the Faculty of Medical Sciences. This is the first time in the history of UWISON that a nursing graduand has been named Valedictorian. Students were also awarded scholarships based on overall academic performance and engagement in community service. Scholarships, donated by Nursing Alumni covered partial tuition. For the 2021/2022 period, scholarships totaled approxi- mately $2,472,160.00 (JMD) , with the largest sum being awarded to second- and third-year students (Table 2). For the first time in the School’s history, three (3) candidates completed the Doc- tor of Philosophy in Nursing: Dr. Joyette Aiken (with High Commendation), Dr. Antoinette Barton-Gooden, and Dr. Tania Rae; all of whom are members of the UWISON’s academic staff. Dr. Aiken’s qualitative study explored, “ The patient-care- giver dyadic experiences of heart failure in Jamaica. Dr. Barton-Gooden’s study examined, “ Smoking and predictors of health-related quality in adults with sickle cell disease , and Dr. Rae’s intervention study investigated, “ High fidelity simulation in the BScN curriculum: Effect on year II students’ self-confidence and anxiety during clinical decision-making .
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