Dr. Biodun Ogungbo
I called the ward and had this conversation with a nurse:
“Nurse, please, how is my patient?”
“Fine, Doctor,” said the nurse.
“What is the blood pressure?”
“90/40 mmHg, Doctor.”
“Oh, okay; what is the pulse?” I asked.
“150 per minute.”
“What is the temperature?”
“Doctor, the last time it was 39 degrees.”
“Seriously,” I asked? “And yet you said he was fine?”
“Yes, Doctor. That’s how he was handed over to me!”
A few minutes later, she called me back and we had the following conversation:
“Doctor, you know your patient? He is gasping for breath!”
“Okay,” I said, “I am nearly there.”
A few minutes later, she called again.
“Doctor, we lost your patient!”
Not so beautiful angels
Nurses are supposed to be angels of
mercy. Whereas doctors show empathy, nurses should display tons and tons
of compassion and care. But, patients, relatives and doctors have all
been complaining about our dear nurses. The complaints have focussed
mostly on bad attitude, crudity and poor nursing ethics.
It seems that there is a flaw in the
education and training of the current batch of nurses. Active and
serious, continuous training and educational activities in nursing is
now almost nonexistent. The mentoring of young nurses is poor and our
nurses are failing in the performance of their duties. Nursing care in
Nigeria is on a slippery slope and deteriorating daily. Lives and limbs
are being lost in the process!
Hospitals are dangerous places
Hospitals are dangerous places and I
cannot wait to get my patients out of the hospital and send them home.
Even now, I prefer to send them to a hotel once it is safe to get them
out of the ward. One reason is that poor nursing standard of care — by
commission or omission — can lead to complications.
Nurses also often do not have a good
grasp of the medical condition of the patient and have little
initiative to delve into the full medical history of their patients.
Because of this, they often fail to adequately care for the patient
since their knowledge of the medical condition is so shallow.
Generally, the attitude, behaviour,
decency and ethics displayed by the “common nurse” leaves much to be
desired. Bad nurses are like cockroaches. If you see one, then there is
probably many more around. Here are some examples.
Lies, lies and more lies
A nurse on night duty in one of the top
hospitals went to sleep, leaving the patients to look after themselves.
Sadly, an elderly lady died during the shift, unbeknown to the nurse.
Hours later, after rigor mortis must have crept in, the nurse woke up.
She then proceeded to damage control by falsifying the clinical notes.
Falsification of notes and recording
results of tests not carried out are all too common among nurses. Blood
pressure, pulse and temperature recordings are often faked by nurses
without compunction, making patient care extremely difficult.
Ignorance is the rule
The case of Mrs. Cordelia Ifechukwude
was reported in the media recently. The nurses in the private hospital
were so crude, such that they believed assisted delivery entailed
aggressively pressing the protruding belly of the mother to force the
baby out. Many such stories of ignorance and blundering behaviour
abound.
Failed school of nursing
Retired nurses and actresses were hired
as staff by the desperate head of a school of nursing, to populate the
school, during an accreditation inspection of the school. This was done
to fool the committee into granting accreditation for a failing school.
They did and, sadly, the poor training and shortage of truly ‘trained’
nurses continue in this hospital to this day. Who is losing out?
How can we get the nurses we deserve?
The Nursing and Midwifery Council of
Nigeria has a huge task in hand to restore dignity to the nursing
profession. They have to overhaul the training of nurses and make it a
serious business. The schools of nursing need to be upgraded and
restructured to deliver quality training. Some doctors should be
involved in the training of nurses, both in the practical and
theoretical aspects, for relevance in the work place.
Nurses seem to have lost pride and
passion for the job. The council should take a clue from other
professional bodies and give the profession a facelift. Career upgrade
should be encouraged among nurses, even to the PhD level (postgraduate
nursing school with varying specialisation); for there is something that
continuing education does to an individual. It refines you and brings
about a positive change in perception and behaviour. Nurses need to be
proactive and confident in their ability.
The ethics of the profession and
professionalism should be key cornerstones of nursing education.
Further, continuous education and mentorship are important prerequisites
for further personal development of the nurse. These should be made
mandatory conditions for retaining the license. Nurses who have
specialised or excelled must be appropriately remunerated. Additional
skills and expertise must be paid for by employers. The council must
also weed out the masses of untrained ‘nurses’ employed in horrible
private hospitals. They give trained nurses a bad name.
Finally
Did you get the point of the scenario at
the beginning? Will your nurse get the diagnosis and the point? Bottom
line: Nurses have stopped thinking in Nigeria and it is time to restore
common sense, professionalism, distinction and respect back to the
cadre.
As usual, please send your considered comments, opinions and stories through the website.
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