THE PLACE OF A NURSE IN THE HOSPITAL

[Kunle Emmanuel]

By Olufemi Iseyemi Folakemi

Being a nurse does not make nurses less than any hospital worker, we only occupy a strategic position that is unique and divinely arranged by God because of the virtue of our training. We are directly in touch with our clients because no other professionals in the hospital has the patience to do what we do. We implement all prescription by most of the other collaborators in the healthcare care industry.

We have our statutory nursing cores which are ordered by nurses for nurses and cannot be interpreted or implemented by any other professional.
Nursing is about restoration of health back to the sick not mere implementation of orders.
In actual fact, a nurse must be knowledgeable to correct prescriptions wrongly written, she is not covered by law to implement a wrongly prescribed drug or treatment. So that makes him/her the pivotal.

WHAT ABOUT THE PHRASE "THEY MUST CARRY OUT MY ORDER"
THIS IS VERY WRONG!

Nurses implement prescriptions, and this is just one in a million things nurses do.
We vet prescriptions with internationally acceptable standard and implement only the rightly written ones.
NURSING is the wheel on which treatment in the hospital rolls. Different professionals prescribe what they feel their patient will benefit from.
Being the only one trained to understand and exercise extreme patience, nurses Implement those prescriptions and observe for reaction, inaction and progress. It doesn't make them slaves of other professionals.
It just implies they are transparent, calm and knowledgeable in several things.
Groups that prescribes either treatments or drugs are;
Doctors
dieticians
Physiotherapists
Opthometrists
Nutritionists. etc

The nurse is in the unit or ward as a manager who ensures patients get the right treatment as desired by all team members.

Besides all these, the nurse also sees to the hygiene, physical, mental, spiritual and psychological well being of the patients under her care.

He ensures patient get well as desired and if death is inevitable, she ensures pain is reduced, comfort ensured, and death is peaceful with the corpse well taken care of with dignity.

We welcome you into the world at birth, and does not abandon you at the point of death and after death.

This is the making of a nurse. The fact that you prescribe and we implement is all about division of labour.

Let us be less boastful and if we must boast let us do so with things we commonly achieve.

What is good about a disjointed health care sector where we seek vain glory and nothing good can be said about us. We are 187th among nations, according to world health organisation ratings, even Benin Republic is 97th, seriously ahead of us.
It is shameful.

We can start by being transparent like nurses, then be committed, cast away your self pride, nobody is interested in that and embrace unity.
The only thing that can help us stand tall among the honorable is by having self respect, which translates into respecting others and appreciating one another.
The new s ur stem now is "TEAM WORK "
this consists of nurses, doctors, pharmacists, physiotherapists, dieticians etc, in a team where they work as a family.
No self gratification, pride or ego.
every player is apprecciated accordingly.

CAN WE EVER GET THERE IN NIGERIA??
LET US HAVE A RETHINK!!