WHO dedicated this year theme to Support nurses by calling it as ‘year of the nurses and midwives’ Nursing Now is a global campaign to increase nurses profile.
Nursing Now is a global platform to share the activities of nurses, association and institution and build a better rapport. Nightingale Challenge is another part of this movement where health institutions are taking initiatives to organise some program (leadership or research) for their staff. They are expecting heath care institution to invest in Nursing.
What should ‘nursing now’ focus in India?
Majority of the health care institution who applied for nightingale Challenge are from private sector, education institutions. What are they doing under this challenge? Do they have an impact on nurses empowerment?
Nursing directorates at all state: These should be occupied by the nurses rather than physicians or any other professionals.
Nursing Education standard: Stop non attending classes, build skill based career pathways based on need to this community, teacher and student standard, increase public education institutions, corruption at INC, and reformation of INC
Nursing practice: skill based career pathways at the state owned hospital, respect the skills and sanction autonomy of practice to ANM, Nurses and Community Health Officers as per their assigned responsibility. Continuing Practical Based skill training and certification so that they can practice.
Nursing Research: Research is a part of Bachelor and Diploma course. There are more than 20000 nurses per year completing Masters in Nursing in 9 different specialities. Central government hospital themselves have more than 1000 nurses with MSc ,underutilised.
Stop Contratualisation: This has become a magic bullet for HRH issue. This is against the dignity of labor and is inhuman.
Regular recruitment: every second year all institution should call for vacancies and recruit health workforce. Kalawati Saran Children Hospital , new delhi, did not recruit nurses for 10 years and only last year they filled few of their vacancies.
We are working to motivate nurses and ANM to write their issues and experience so that they can be heard. Other association with long history and government institution should stop showing the propoganda of support without saying for what they are supporting for. They have enough power, finances and manpower to take these challenges and work on.
To summarise let me re-emphasise that Nursing now in India should redirect the focus to the real challenges faced by the nurses of India who are working day in and out despite these shortcomings and pouring their heart and soul in patient care.