Curb nurses’ negligence

Wed, 24 May 2017 12:07:18 +0000

COMPLAINTS about the negative attitude and at times sheer negligence of duty against health personnel, particularly nurses working in public hospitals and clinics, are increasingly becoming the order of the day, and relevant authorities must take necessary action to curb the bad practice.

Much as death is inevitable, some patients have died at the hands of nurses purely due to lack of the care at health personnel owe to them.

The unfortunate death of a mother following delivery last weekend at Chilenje First Level Hospital exonerates the assertion that some nurses portray a heartless, uncaring and ‘I don’t care’ attitude towards patients.

It is public knowledge that nurses, through their chosen profession make sacrifices day in and day out to help others who pass through their hands on account of ill health. Ideally, they should be held up as role models, kind-hearted and frontline health care providers to the sick like Florence Nightingale’s. Alas, this is often not the case.

And it is needless to mention that failure by nurses to live up to this high calling of saving life, puts the very lives of the patients tghey are supposed to help in a more precarious position.

Are nurses performing their duties effectively? Why do nurses exhibit negative attitude towards patients?

Early this month, the Lusaka City Council (LCC) burial office situated at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) recorded alarmingly shocking statistics of nine hundred and eighty (980) deaths between 18th April and 08th May, 2017.

Not only was this figure ghastly but also an indication of the need for a multi-layered approach to preventive health care, adequate and relevant health education and off course a more responsive care system. And the role that nurses play in achieving this cannot be overemphasised.

Statistically, it implies about forty seven (47) deaths were recorded on a daily basis, a figure that speaks of unacceptable levels of loss of life. Should such a high death record be accepted?

Certainly, some deaths occur due to gross negligence on the part of the nurses and doctors. For instance, the mother who died at Chilenje First Level 1 Hospital from all accounts this was due to negligence by the staff on duty.

Why did the staff not take decisive action when the woman developed a complication?

Excessive bleeding after childbirth is a known danger sign and it is incon-ceivable that she could have been allowed to remain in such a condition from 07:00 hours to past 19:00 hours unattended to. Did the nurses re-ally need to wait on the decision of the consultant to refer her to UTH? There is no justification for indecision.

Under life threatening circumstances, can nurses take unnecessarily a de-cision such as referring a patient to UTH in order to save a life? It is ex-pected that a nurse will observe for herself increase of patient’s weakness and take appropriate steps. What is a nurse there for if she cannot ob-serve these things for herself?

What is more annoying is that the nurses on duty did not want to listen to the concerns of the patient herself. She felt that her body was losing strength and the need for specialised attention was rather urgent but they dismissed her pleas. What sort of negligence is this?

A trained nurse does not require to be reminded of the vital importance of sound observation, it must never be lost sight of what it is for. It is not for the sake of piling up miscellaneous information or curious facts, but for the sake of saving life and increasing health and comfort. Unfortu-nately, this is lacking, hence leading to death of patients.

We think it is cases such as this that relevant authorities in the Ministry of Health and the Human Rights Commission must take keen interest in to investigate thoroughly and bring the bring the culprits to book.

Instead, nurses ought to endeavour to espouse what their mentor Flor-ence Nightingale stood for, to offer effective nursing care to patients with utmost care. As Mahatma Ghandi puts it, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”