Nurses reflect on achievements, challenges
The celebration of International Nurses Day and Nurses Week started on May 6 and continued through to May 12, which is the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the mother of nursing.
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The week is marked every year to commemorate the achievements, challenges and to reflect on Florence Nightingale’s philosophy of patient and attitudinal care, as well as human relationships in the nursing profession.
This year’s celebration was on theme “Nurses and midwives: A force for change, a vital resource for health”.
Speaking at the launch of the 2014 International Nurses Day and Nurses Week celebration, the President of the Ghana Registered Nurses Association (GRNA), Mr Kweku Asante-Krobea, expressed worry over what he described as the poor attitude of some nurses towards their clients.
“Over the years, the standards of care have kept falling and that have translated into a multiplicity of shortfalls in nursing care, an outcome that has negative implications on the provision of quality of health care generally,” he stated.
He said he shared in the opinion that some nurses partially contributed to the declining standards of health care and the rise in some diseases among the population.
That, he said, was because nurses and midwives constituted the largest number of health care professionals and also served as frontline health professionals with the responsibility to give care to the vulnerable in the society.
Commitment
While acknowledging the challenges of the profession, Mr Asante-Krobea urged the nurses and midwives to attach strong commitment to their work, which he described as “a calling by God”.
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He advised nurses and midwives to upgrade themselves to enable them to live up to their clients’ expectations by adopting acceptable practices and innovations that would impact positively on health care.
He gave the assurance that the association would commit itself through measures such as conscious monitoring and evaluation of conduct of the caregiver, performance appraisal and retraining of nursing and midwifery personnel to address the concerns.
Mr Asante-Krobea commended the nurses and midwives in the country, and called on the government to motivate nurses and midwives who were burdened with myriad of constraints and yet putting up their best.
Commendation
The Minister of Health, Ms Sherry Ayittey, commended and acknowledged nurses and midwives for their contributions in delivering health care to Ghanaians.
She said in the face of the many challenges, nurses and midwives had contributed to the strides made in attaining the Millennium Development Goals four and five, which respectively relate to reducing infant mortality and improving maternal health.
The minister stated that the government would continue to dialogue with the association to address concerns raised by its members.
Although the health sector was currently facing financial constraints as a result of a reduction in development-partner support, Ms Ayittey noted that the government was committed to working with the association to promote the environment within which its members operated to enhance the quality of health care for Ghanaians.
Sacrificial profession
The Chief Executive of the Salt and Light Ministries, Dr Joyce Aryee, said nurses and midwives should see their work as “sacrificial” and a ministry to serve God.
She advised them to give off their best and perform their duties with diligence, irrespective of the challenges.
In their fraternal message, the Retired Nurses and Midwives Club advised nurses and midwives to be vigilant in performing their duties to avoid negligence and also ensure proper documentation of information about their clients.
They also bemoaned the poor attitude of some nurses, especially, towards the aged, describing their attitude as “very disheartening”.
Ten nurses from across the country were rewarded for their hard work at the ceremony.
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