Bring back the compassion in nursing

May 28, 2017 News

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By Sharmain Grainger

There have been many people gravitating to the nursing profession. However, we have repeatedly heard that becoming a nurse should never be viewed as merely an income-earning endeavour. Time and again, the nurses of yore have insisted that nursing must be a passion in order for an individual to function at his or her best.
This is because nursing is not an insignificant role; rather it is a mammoth task that only those ready and willing should accept.
Even a cursory glance at its meaning would give you the chills. In fact www.nursingworld.org has an especially detailed description of nursing that each aspiring nurse should internalise even before they consider joining the profession. It states: “Nursing is the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, facilitation of healing, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, groups, communities, and populations.”
Another notion that an aspirant should internalise before, and embrace once they join the profession, is the section of the nurses’ pledge that says: “…I will abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous, and will not take or knowingly administer any harmful drug. I will do all in my power to maintain and elevate the standard of my profession, and will hold in confidence all personal matters committed to my keeping, and all family affairs coming to my knowledge in the practice of my calling. With loyalty will I endeavour to aid the physician in his work, and as a ‘missioner of health’ I will dedicate myself to devoted service to human welfare.”
Now this is probably way too deep for some nurses already in the system, and it is therefore no wonder that some of them are accused, far too often, of being uncaring and negligent.
Some nurses currently in our public health system are simply not up to such a gargantuan role; they are merely looking to take home a pay cheque at the end of the month.
However, I was horrified when an individual closely linked to the nursing profession recently revealed that there are nurses within the public health system who demonstrate daily that they have little to no interest in the wellbeing of their patients. How is it even possible that a nurse could refuse to administer medication necessary for a patient’s healing simply because ‘the patient said he ain’t ready yet’ or ‘the patient say he ain’t got water’?
But these have been some of the reports coming out from our public health system, even our premier health institution. Many nurses, it is said, are more interested in making a fashion statement and are not prepared to get ‘down and dirty’ in the quest to get those within their care better.
There is no doubt, too, that some nurses simply do not have the necessary compassion to speak with their patients or their patients’ families. Just last week, a relative of a patient accused a nurse of being particularly insensitive. The relative claimed that the patient, who was admitted at a regional hospital, had to be taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital for a service that the regional hospital could not offer.
The way I understand it, the patient was not transferred to the city hospital and therefore had to return to the regional hospital. But the relative claimed that the patient had to return on another occasion for another service offered at the Georgetown Hospital, and therefore a request was made for the patient to be transferred. The relative claimed that this request was based purely on the cost factor, since it was family members who had to foot the transportation bill for each trip to the city.
It is alleged by the relative that a nurse in response to this request was particularly insensitive. To make my point, I will share what that relative related, although I know this does not by any means represent nurses as a whole in our country. In my paraphrased version, it is alleged that the nurse said that the patient was too old to get better health care at the Georgetown Hospital, and no effort was going to be made to transfer that patient because the patient in question, a woman, had already lived her life.
It is alleged that the nurse went on to say that only younger patients would be given transfers if they needed it. The patient in question is in her 50s. Family members of that patient said that they are prepared to take that matter further.
Although the foregoing may seem a tad unbelievable to some, far too many persons have experienced the worst at the hands of some nurses, and would have no qualms with generalising the notion that “nurses are uncaring.” It is moreover a rarity to find nurses who seem selfless and compassionate in how they carry out their duties.
This suggests that there are but a few persons who actually enter the profession these days because they have a passion for patient care, which is in fact the crux of nursing.
This, however, has not hindered an influx of persons to the profession over the years. After all, those responsible for managing the country’s nursing programme have insisted that there is a minimum qualification for entering and so, whosoever is found fitting may come. As such, many feign an interest in the profession!
Interviews, however, have reportedly been a crucial tactic used to help sift out some of those who are not worthy. You certainly must have an interest in things health if you are desirous of joining the nursing profession. Moreover, if you are asked something as straightforward as ‘who is the Minister of Public Health?’ the answer should easily roll off of your tongue.
But some applicants for the nursing programme, even with the necessary requirements, are oblivious to the goings-on in the health system, I have been told. Although some of them may be easily rejected if they fail an interview, there is so much more that has to be done to safeguard the profession.
Thankfully this has been recognised and reports suggest that a deliberate process has commenced to bring back nursing. Dubbed a mentoring programme, the process is one that sees retired nurses bringing their flair of health care to the younger nurses in the quest to help improve the overall quality of nursing service offered.

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