A mass this afternoon (Tuesday) at the St Alphonsus Roman Catholic Church will kick off a week of activities to observe International Nurses’ Day.
Each year the nursing fraternity around the world embarks upon activities in commemoration of the anniversary of the birthday of the nursing legend, Florence Nightingale.
This year’s theme is: ‘Closing the Gap, Partnering to save Lives of Mothers and Infants.’
Acting health minister Colin McIntyre said the contribution of nurses plays a fundamental role in the development of Dominica.
“They impact the lives of each individual at some point, from conception to grave. Nurses form the largest group of professionals in our health care system, and are on the front line officers in the delivery of direct patient care services,” he said.
According to McIntyre, government has spared no effort in pursuing numerous initiatives, aimed at strengthening the human resource capacity and infrastructure, both in the area of nursing education and practice.
“As a result of our investment, the faculty of health sciences at the DSC is now 100% staffed with nurse educators trained at masters’ level,” he said.
McIntyre said several nurses are currently being supported by government to pursue further education.
Whenever positive comments are made about nurses people are always quick to speak about a negative experience that they had with nursing. I was one of these people until I joined the nursing profession.Yes there are a few who bring the profession into disrepute but however no one will understand nurses except you become one yourself. Of course, you don”t have to be a nurse.What I’m trying to say is “who feels it knows” . A phrase applicable to nursing around the world.
NEVER heard such stupidness. absurd AND childish to the max you are a nurse ? waw
Well said!
7HOURS WAITIN your comments madequite a lot of sense indeed. That is what you call objective criticisms.
But this correction is in connection to what? Come on DNO where is the main comment that the person is correcting. You can do better than this. Be professional DNO.
*CORRECTION in the 4th Paragraph Line 7. Meant “…. something is wrong with themselves.”
804PM to 305AM that is the length of time a young lady spent at the Casualty department just over a week ago. To compound this matter, there was a lady waiting at that Department with her crying and highly distressed sickly child from 3PM to 301 AM.
The majority of Nurses and Doctors do their work to the best of their ability. However it is utenable that people have to spend more than 7 hours at the Casualty. There was no mass casualty situation. People get sick at times when private doctors are NOT AVAILABLE and when all health care facilities their areas are CLOSED.
The system at the Casualty is getting progressively worse and needs urgent attention before more people lose their lives there. We must begin making reports to the authorities and let our concerns known about the negligence and disrespectful conduct of a few nurses. Do you that some people resort to violence and use insults due to the frustrations they experience at times in this casualty ? It is like when they reach their boiling point and can no longer take it. These are not speculations, I was there and I saw what was happening and many persons were witness to this…the poor child could have died.
When someone comes to the Casualty( Tv viewing & BBing & FBing & delay & paper work & gossip capital at PMH ), one has to look at the question of prioritizing the treatment and hence more urgent cases must be dealt with firstly but this must also be balanced by paying attention to persons who have been there waiting for hours without any service whatsoever. Discretion and commonsense must be applied especially when NO OTHER OPTIONS ARE AVAILABLE in late afternoon and weekend evenings. It s not crazy people mad you know. You come casualty because something is wrong. Some people travel for miles and at odd hours because they sense something isn’t wrong with themselves, a friend or kid etc.” Oh why is now you coming ?” or ” Why is casualty you coming ?” “You should to a private Doctor instead pay your money”. These and all kind of stupid questions/statement are directed at members of the public. Let me state again that a significant number of nurses and doctors do their duty in a highly professional and efficient manner but their are a “few habitual suspects” who bring this noble profession into disrepute and degrade the others and mess up the name of the Casualty department.
I am calling on the authorities to review the operations at the casualty department. Priority must be based on AGE( Elderly/babies/kids),length of time the patient has been waiting for treatment( earliest order scheme),and most crucially those who are emergency ). It is not always easy to apply to this regime but a system must be put into place and followed .
I don’t blame those who are at the casualty for any system that theyre compelled to follow. It is the duty of the policy makers, the Hospital administrators and indeed the ministry of health to put the proper scheme into place at the casualty to make delivery of care their more efficient. I think a concerted effort needs to be made to take on board the views of those casualty personel who are experienced and knowledgeable about “Casualty Things”.
Just maybe we can use our collective intelligence and embark upon a FACT FINDING MISSION to some of our neighboring facilities in the region to assess how they manage their Casualty department. There could be very useful lessons that could be learnt there. Just maybe we could also get the Management Majors at DSC/UWI TO EMBARK UPON A STUDY AT THE CASULATY DEPARTMENT to see what they come up with as per the not only FINDINGS but also Solution-Based Recommendations. There is so much we can do.
Let us all work with our nurses. They have a most crucial role to play and they must be given the support that they need. Too often members of the public want to do their work for them. They are trained professionals and this must be recognized all the time. However their are some amidst them who should seek employment elsewhere ; for they are truly bad apples amongst gold.