 |
|
||||
 |
It is a not for profit organisation that exists solely to further the interests of its member hospitals. To this end HASA involves itself with national and provincial forums of the Department of Health, as well as their related committees and personnel. We welcome you to our new website. CONFERENCES PRIVATE HOSPITAL REVIEW 2009 NEWSLETTER RESEARCH |
|
Documents & ResourcesNursing the best and worst of times01 July 2008 In Categories: Nursing By Dr Sharon Vasuthevan, National Training and Developmental Manager, Lifehealthcare Never before have nurses had as many opportunities as they have today both within South Africa and abroad. This type of climate comes with huge opportunities for each nurse and should be used to their benefit to find the job most enjoyed. The demand for nurses should encourage nurses to raise the bar in terms of their clinical expertise and competence. There are unlimited opportunities for career growth and development in nursing. Nurses are able to work in diverse environments and can afford to pick and choose. Indeed for the nursing profession in South Africa, this period can be described as “the best of times and the worst of times”. Nurses have more opportunities now than ever before in terms of career development, jobs, areas of speciality and assuming executive or political positions both within the public and private sectors. On the contrary the profession is grappling with challenges posed by the scourge of HIV/AIDS, changes in legislation, socio-economic demands and educational and professional changes.
By Dr Sharon Vasuthevan, National Training and Developmental Manager, Lifehealthcare Introduction Never before have nurses had as many opportunities as they have today both within South Africa and abroad. This type of climate comes with huge opportunities for each nurse and should be used to their benefit to find the job most enjoyed. The demand for nurses should encourage nurses to raise the bar in terms of their clinical expertise and competence. There are unlimited opportunities for career growth and development in nursing. Nurses are able to work in diverse environments and can afford to pick and choose. Indeed for the nursing profession in South Africa, this period can be described as “the best of times and the worst of times”. Nurses have more opportunities now than ever before in terms of career development, jobs, areas of speciality and assuming executive or political positions both within the public and private sectors. On the contrary the profession is grappling with challenges posed by the scourge of HIV/AIDS, changes in legislation, socio-economic demands and educational and professional changes.
Table 1 Source: SANC 2007 register Legislation and the nursing profession The nursing profession has seen much legislative changes in the past few years including proposed qualification changes. The Nursing Act No 33 of 2005 makes provision for a new breed of nurses, namely:
These envisaged qualifications (proposed by the Nursing Standard Generating Body) are long overdue. The body has recommended that post basic qualifications be pitched at masters certificate level, that is level eight of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF). The heartbeat of the proposal is that the programmes have a single basic qualification with multiple entry and exit points. While these qualifications elevate the nursing profession to higher education levels, they are by no means the most cost effective way to train increasingly large numbers of nurses to face the national crisis. The professional nurse will have a Bachelors degree, which eliminates the current four-year diploma. However, this qualification will place a huge challenge to public nursing colleges, who will not be in a position to offer degrees unless some type of collaborative agreements exist between a university and the nursing college. South Africa has a terrible shortage of specialist nurses and a university course will only work if it encourages more students to specialize in clinical fields rather than focusing on management and academic positions. There are opportunities for staff nurses to specialize as the course will have exit points to ensure a good mix of theory and experience. Against this backdrop the pegging of post basic qualifications at masters certificate and higher diploma levels appears to pose additional challenges as table 2 laments the dire need of specialised nurses.
Table 2 Source: SANC register 2007 It is evident that the country does not have sufficient clinically specialized nurses to meet the country’s needs. The suggestion to have clinical programmes at Masters levels may unwittingly reduce these numbers further. Registered nurses who may not cope with the demanding programme may choose to remain where they are. Nonetheless, it encourages continuing professional development of nurses. Continuing Professional Development A qualification is not an end and nurses will soon be subjected to continuing professional development like other healthcare professionals. There is a need to retain the competence of nurses and use every learning opportunity in the system to keep nurses clinically competent. Patients require competent nurses and we can only ensure this by ensuring nurses keep abreast with developments. It must be clear that there is no room for mediocrity in the system. Every employer (including the public sector) must demand the best in the profession not just the available. The implications of the above legislative changes will transform the training of nurses in the private sector. None of the private training institutions is registered as a higher education institution. This means that the private sector can only train ENAs unless they are accredited to offer a four-year degree and post qualifications programmes. Furthermore, educators will need to be upgraded to meet the new demands. The private sector currently trains about 6 000 nurses annually (see Table 3) and it will be a major loss.
The introduction of community service will start in 2007 but will be restricted to students doing a four-year degree/diploma. Nurses will have a limited licence to practice during the community service year making it impossible to moonlight. Regulations have been drafted and provinces appear set to take on the students. HIV/Aids impacts on growth The future may be rosy but the nursing profession seems to be in need of intensive care thanks to the HIV/Aids epidemic. Much has been written about the impact of the HIV and Aids pandemic on the healthcare delivery systems and resources in southern Africa. Nurses as the frontline of the healthcare sector are at the centre of this tsunami. They have to care for the ceaseless numbers of terminally ill patients which impacts negatively on their emotional and physical well-being. The chronic pressure on hospitals and nurses are threatening to undermine the capacity of countries such as South Africa to provide a comprehensive health safety net for the rest of the population. This is a national priority that we all need to pay attention to. Health care workers need to speak openly about the disease and educate as many people as possible, especially the young. It is important that nurses take responsibility for their own health. Nurses must walk the talk. As services develop into “high tech” facilities let the nurse consider a “high touch” facility where competent professionals (in a supportive and caring environment) provide quality care. Quality and standards Quality improvement changes revolutionise our focus on the healthcare industry. It requires a fundamental change in the way that we work together. The emphasis on delivering quality patient care and the need for accreditation by international organizations indicates the importance of quality within healthcare - especially private healthcare. It empowers and educates people to maximize involvement and mobilize energies towards caring for their patients. If we all focus on improving the quality of patient care we will help to reduce the number of patient complaints and will ultimately promote the nursing profession. The profession must focus on what needs to be done in the future. Quality starts with each healthcare professional. The history of nursing in South Africa teaches us that the previous generation of nurses spent much of their time structuring the nursing profession and ours is to perfect it. Our predecessors created the Nursing Council and Association and were instrumental in moulding the many qualifications we have today. They also developed the Scope of Practice and all the regulations that govern our nursing practice. So at the end of the day, when we look at this legacy, we can summarize it in these words:
What about the future? What will the legacy of the present generation be? What will the future generations of nurses remember our generation for? The following Cs should describe the present generation of nurses:
We can develop our nurses to be all of the above by addressing these issues jointly between the public and private sector. The standards should be the same irrespective of where the individual is trained. There should be a nursing education model for training nurses for South Africa based on sound partnerships. The recruitment criteria and selection should be standard. The clinical accompaniment of nurses should be revisited as the students must be groomed to adopt good clinical practice in order to deliver quality patient care. Qualified nurses should be role models for young people entering the profession. Having said that nurses must be remunerated for their clinical skills and the risks involved in the job of delivering nursing care. For the critical areas we should be looking at developed countries that have an oversupply of nurses, and consider importing such skills. We don’t want to see a situation where we run out of nurses before running out of money. Conclusion The new Nursing Act must be fortified to open new opportunities for the nursing profession. The set of qualifications must be developed to address the needs of the country without dropping our internationally recognised standards. The scope of practice should empower nurses to act other than limiting their practice to irrelevant situations based on patient complexities. Nurses working in either the private or public healthcare sector are faced with the challenges of increased healthcare costs, increasing patient numbers and changes in disease profiles. They can make the difference to the healthcare system in their own way. It is not the expensive medications and equipment that makes patients happy, but the little things that count. The kindness and care shown, a listening ear and the desire to genuinely help an individual are key to a patient’s recovery.
Related:FAQ
NEWS
DOCUMENTS
 
|
Hasa Awards of Excellence: Call for Nominations13 July 2010 The annual Hasa Awards of Excellence are part of the Ministerial Healthcare Awards. This year's theme is Quality is Excellence. The process to find the best of the best in the private hospital industry is nearing its end. The Health Excellence Awards 2010 will take place in November 2010 and the deadline date for submission of entries is 07 October 2010. LegalWatchJune02,6815 June 2010 The Children’s Act 38 of 2005 (as amended). How does it affect healthcare? Several outstanding provisions of the Children’s Act [Act 38 of 2005] have become operational. The relevant Government Gazette has made the date upon which the law became operational as being 01 April 2010. LegalWATCH June01,6702 June 2010 HASA LEGALWatch:June01 Update on Sections 55 and 56 of the National Health Act, 2003 relating to the
|
