The nursing students from the Ernest Bai Koroma University (EBK) took their practical examinations at Magbenteh Community Hospital at the end of October. The hospital gets to have priority in recruiting top students based on their performance and benefits the students by providing employment opportunities first hand.

Sierra Leone has an exceedingly high youth unemployment rate, with any opportunity of job creations and community improvements welcomed with open arms.

The examination nursing students arrived with their teachers who are nursing staff themselves. They were taken through clinical examinations which include assessment on their ability to examine the situation the patient is in and how to best offer clinical care. They were then assessed on their team work and coordination with senior medical staff.

Establishing Magbenteh Community Hospital as a medical training facility is an added advantage to both community and the patients. The community are able to promote their members and the patients receive a greater ratio of staff attending to their needs. This covers more patients within a short period of time at no added cost, overseen by senior medical staff.

Support is needed for nursing equipment, including catheters, masks, gloves, and consumables used in the hospital, enabling medical students to have the tools they need to give sufficient quality health care as well as the reduction of infection rates. Furthermore, part of the role of a nursing aid is the sensitization to patients and their families, about the importance of being treated in a medical facility, as opposed to traditional healers.