Nurses at Netcare Milpark Hospital in Parktown were honoured and celebrated ahead of International Nurses Day on 12 May.
The theme for this year’s Nurses Day was ‘mindfulness’. Nurses in the various wards were encouraged to compete to display their mindfulness on the day. Wards sang, performed poetry and created ‘mindfulness tents’ for the competition, which was won by Section 1 and Cardiology Intensive Care Unit. Nurses in the top three wards were given hampers to share as a prize.
All 700 nurses at the hospital were treated to lunch and chocolates on the day.
Nursing manager at the hospital Endri Kretsenger said, “Nurses work 12-hour shifts, deal with a lot of complaints and often don’t get a thank you. Without them, the hospital would not run.”
Hospital general manager Marc van Heerden said Nurses Day was important since the core business of the hospital was nursing.
“The largest contributor to the staff component at our hospital is nurses. This is our opportunity to thank nurses for what they do,” added Van Heerden.
Nurses who are generally empathetic, caring and resilient people were delighted to be honoured on the day.
Professional nurse Siphiwe Zulu said, “This day is great because it shows that what we are doing is appreciated. I believe that nursing is a calling. I decided in matric that I would like to nurse after school because I am soft, talkative and enjoy being with people of all ages.”
Zulu highlighted the challenge of constantly seeing sick people, which can be taxing spiritually, emotionally and physically.
“In order to deal with this pressure, I find a corner, take a deep breath and digest the situation and go back again when I have the answer,” said Zulu.
Professional nurse Lihle Majozi said the most challenging part of the job was having to tell some sick patients that there was nothing that could be done to make them better.
“It’s really sad and difficult to deal with emotions in a situation like that. Nurses have to have good hearts to deal with sick people. I like to communicate with sick people and listen to their problems,” said Majozi.
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