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Ensuring that Nursing returns to its former glory
Dear Editor,
Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence recently called upon the members of the newly-installed Nursing Council to work towards improving nursing education, thereby elevating it to its former position of prominence. (Kaieteur News, May 12, 2018).
For far too long the quality of delivered healthcare, along with the delivery agents have remained a growing concern for many, if not all Guyanese, with recent reports further attesting to the fact that sadly patients are not the recipients of the quality nursing care they deserve.
In her admonitions, the Minister brought awareness that the underlying reason for the previously inadequate quality of care was the outmoded system in which healthcare was delivered, and consequently tasked the Nursing Council with working alongside the nurses in their immediate working environment in order to ensure success. There must be an overall different approach this time around.
Let it be forthwith known, and stand for the records, that from a professional stance I am in full accord with the Public Health Minister, and the direction in which she is leading the already beleaguered nurses and healthcare system.
However, not wanting to appear as the portender of doom, or the harbinger of gloom, there are certain factors that must be taken into primary account if restoring nursing to its former “glory” avoids becoming another “age old story”.
In order to make the present drive for quality improvement, align with the Nursing Council and its professional values, and for nurses to participate as meaningful members of the team working towards restoring nursing to its former glory, we first need to understand what constitutes “former glory”.
The term is socially constructed, with different meanings for different people and professional groups. In the absence of a clear definition of the term, nursing is incapable of explaining what constitutes quality nursing care.
Consequently, it is difficult to know what competencies and professional standards to look for and how to measure and evaluate the quality of nursing care.
Systematic evaluation tools must be put in place, as a means of measuring improvement in quality, as well as nursing -sensitive indicators developed as a tool to generate data on the relationships between nurse staffing and patient outcomes.
Caution should also be exercised regarding the idea that an augmented number of nurses will improve quality of care. While having an adequate number of nurses on a ward/ unit is essential to maintain the safety and quality of care, nevertheless one must ask whether it is only the number of nurses that matters.
The poignant question that should be addressed is whether quality, competence, and expertise of the nurses should not matter also. By simply equating quality of care, and returning nursing to its former glory via the quantity of nurses, as a result nurses are being seen as laborers for whom only the headcount matters, instead of as professionals with expertise and specialty knowledge.
For nurses to improve the quality of care they provide, they need to be not only clinically competent, but also capable of working in a team as a change agent to improve quality of care. Are we preparing nurses to fulfill this expectation?
The Nursing Council has been given a task— simply to prove that they can restore nursing to its original groove.
Y. Sam. R.N., S.C.M, R.M.N. MEd., BSc.N, Dip. Adult Ed.
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