MEC of Health urge nurses to go back to basics

WITH International Nurses Day being commemorated today, (Saturday, 12 May), KZN Health MEC Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo has thanked all hard-working nurses in the province, and urged all nurses to go back to the basics in the provision of healthcare.

Dhlomo was speaking at a meeting held in Durban on Tuesday, 8 May, which was held to consolidate the Department’s plans to utilise the skills and expertise of retired nurses in a bid to improve the quality of healthcare service across the province.

Addressing a group of current and retired nurses and Department officials, Dhlomo described nurses as advocates for patient care, saying that the current generation could learn a lot from their retired predecessors.

ALSO READ: Life Healthcare celebrates International Nurses Day

“We need to look at what has gone wrong and go back to those basics where nurses were the foundation of love, empathy and care.

“Throughout the world, if you complain about a poor health system, you would improve that system if you bring back to basics the role that is to be played by nurses. The nurse is an ambassador for patient care. The nurse is the main person that comes in the middle of discussions and advises because the patient stays longer with a nurse than any other health professionals,” said Dhlomo.

He said a doctor comes for a limited period, so does a pharmacist, but the nurse stays for eight hours and will be followed by another nurse when the shift ends.

“Therefore, if you want to take care of patients and have them satisfied, we need to listen to nurses. The nurses themselves need to bring back that leadership quality that once was there. We have to go back to basics, where nurses used to be at the forefront of taking care in providing care and empathy to patients,” said Dhlomo.