Basseterre, St. Kitts, May 10, 2016 (SKNIS): In her address to open Nurses’ Week (May 9-14), Minister of State within the Ministry of Health et al, the Honourable Wendy Colleen Phipps, said that “all nurses are expected to provide top quality care, relief, advice and comfort to all who are in need – as a result of illness, pain, disability, advanced age, or other condition that would prevent that individual from being able to practice self-care.”
This year’s theme for Nurses’ Week is “Nurses: A Force for Change: Improving Health Systems’ Resilience”.
Minister Phipps emphasized that nurses “continue to play a pivotal role in the provision of primary health care to our citizens and residents” but that like “any other profession of nobility, nursing must constantly be assessed, improved, and strengthened in order to safeguard the gains attained in health maintenance.”
“Coupled with these objectives are the imperatives of setting new targets, steadily improving on health care delivery, and pursuing professional development opportunities in order to remain relevant in the field of nursing as a career,” she said.
Minister Phipps said that although Nursing is a noble profession, some nurses do not live up to the standard of it being so.
She said that it has been documented in health institutions in the federation that some nurses are rude, insulting and lazy, and don’t know how to speak to people.
“Some of these nurses act as if they are granting people a favour, forgetting that we are in hospital and are paying for their services. Some young nurses don’t seem to view nursing as a calling: for them, nursing is just a job. They are nothing like those older nurses from long ago, who really took a genuine interest in people - because back then, nursing was a vocation that was taken seriously.
They are nothing like those older nurses from long ago, who really took a genuine interest in people—because back then, nursing was a vocation that was taken seriously. When hospitalized patients press the buzzer for help, some nurses think it hard to respond, often leaving the patient unattended until the next shift comes on. Some of our younger nurses are not confidential: they take patients’ business out into the street,” Minister Phipps outlined.
Minister Phillips commended those nurses who acted nobly in their profession but challenged others to rise up to what Nursing really should be.
A number of activities have been planned for Nurses’ Week including panel discussion, candlelight vigil, promotional programmes on Nursing as a career in schools, symposium, luncheon and awards ceremony, church service, round table discussion with the prime minister and government health ministers and officials, and T-shirt day.
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