Types of Nursing: Nursing News, Jobs, Opportunities

Riot police have blocked hundreds of doctors and nurses from marching to Venezuela’s presidential palace to protest against low pay and shortages of medical supplies amid the nation’s deepening crisis.

Thursday’s demonstration in Caracas was the first attempt by protesters to reach the presidential palace since massive anti-government protests last year.
The medical professionals are demanding action by President Nicolas Maduro, who is overseeing a crisis marked by widespread shortages and mass migration from the country.

The once-wealthy oil-producing nation is in crisis economically and politically after two decades of socialist rule.

Rows of heavily armed riot police blocked roughly 400 medical professionals shortly after launching their march.

Ana Rosario Contreras of the Association of Illnesses says they are demanding the government provide basic supplies to treat patients.

The protest ended without violence.
Press Association
https://m.independent.ie/world-news/doctors-and-nurses-take-to-streets-in-venezuela-protests-37224560.html

-Coventry University is offering male nursing students a new £3,000 ($3,800) stipend to encourage men to choose Nursing

“ONE reason I can do stand-up comedy is because of all the material I have from being a male nurse,” says Adrian Matei. False stereotypes about nursing make for good jokes. But they may also put men off the job. Just under 11% of nurses registered in Britain are male, a share that has been steady for over four decades after climbing from 1% in the 1950s.

At a conference in May of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), the profession’s union, David Ferran, a nurse in Belfast, proposed a campaign to promote nursing to men. His motion did not pass, as the view was that nursing should be pitched to anyone with the right skills, regardless of gender. Undeterred, Mr Ferran started a group, Northern Ireland Men in Nursing, which visits schools to promote nursing as a career for men. Similar groups are being set up elsewhere. Several universities have launched social-media blitzes to draw men into nursing programmes. Coventry University is offering male nursing students a new £3,000 ($3,800) stipend.

Britain is not an exception in having relatively few male nurses. But with a growing shortage of nurses across the National Health Service (NHS), attracting men is becoming more urgent. In 2017, for the first time in a decade, more nurses left the profession than joined. Applications to nursing programmes are down by a third since 2016. And the shadow of Brexit makes it tougher for the NHS to fill its 40,000-odd nurse vacancies from abroad. Doubts about whether they will be able to stay dissuade nurses from EU countries.

Last month the NHS launched its biggest-ever nurse recruitment campaign. TV advertisements show them in action in hospital wards and ambulances, and on home visits. Some are male—an improvement from previous campaigns, but not enough to draw men in, reckons Mr Ferran. Paul Vaughan from NHS England, who leads an initiative to change perceptions of nursing and midwifery, thinks recruitment should avoid playing to gender stereotypes. He takes a dim view of slogans like “Are you man enough to be a nurse?”, used in an American campaign.

Views of nursing as a “woman’s job” have deep roots. Florence Nightingale, who established the principles of modern nursing in the 1860s, insisted that men’s rough hands were “not fitted to touch, bathe and dress wounded limbs”. The RCN did not even admit men as members until 1960. Outdated titles such as “sister” and “matron” (used for men as well) do not help. Mr Ferran says some patients are surprised when he shows up, because they thought only women could be nurses.

Boys do not see nursing as a career because they lack role models. In films, female nurses are cast as helpers of heroic male doctors. (In reality, nurses are the first responders when a patient is in crisis.) “If I had a pound for every time I’ve been called doctor,” says Richard Dowell, a third-year nursing student. When he does ward rounds with his nurse mentor and she asks questions, patients often turn to him to respond, says Mr Dowell.

Unsurprisingly, just two-fifths of British parents say they would be proud if their son became a nurse. Men who go into nursing usually follow in the footsteps of a parent or realise that it could be a career after seeing a male nurse care for a relative. Mr Vaughan’s team at the NHS is trying to boost the prestige of nursing by highlighting that it is a professional job in which careers can be made, that it includes specialisms such as cardiology or intensive care, and that it has a use for skills in technology, innovation and leadership. Most young people also do not realise that the job can take them round the world.

For men, there is another bonus. According to a study of more than 20,000 advanced nurse practitioners by Alison Leary of London South Bank University, men reach the seventh band (a mid-career level) four years sooner than women—partly because women are twice as likely as men to work part-time and are more likely to accept a lower band to secure a job they really want. When Mr Dowell started his nursing studies, he was promised: “You’ll go further because you are a man.”
Source : https://www.economist.com/britain/2018/08/18/a-shortage-of-nurses-calls-for-the-recruiting-of-more-men

Medical staff are fleeing hospitals in Cameroon’s troubled English-speaking regions after attacks this month left several nurses dead and many others wounded. Medics say they are stuck between a military that accuses them of aiding armed separatists and rebel fighters who say hospitals betray them to the army.

Elvis Ndansi, of the Cameroon trade union of nurses, says the killings and abuse provoked outrage in the medical corps.

“The military comes, chase them out of the hospital, brutalize them, beat them. As medical personnel, we all stand to condemn these acts and say they are very wrong. Medical personnel are supposed to be protected in times of war. They are there to take care of all casualties, be they from the military, be they from the Ambazonians or secessionists. Their role is to save lives,” Ndansi said.

Governor Bernard Okalia Bilai of the English-speaking southwest region denies the military is responsible for the attacks, saying the separatists seeking an English-speaking state in Cameroon are the ones to blame. He says he has instructed the military to protect hospitals from armed gangs.

Despite the danger of traveling in the region, hundreds of medics showed up Wednesday for a funeral to honor Nancy Azah and her husband Njong Padisco. The couple, both nurses, were shot dead last week, reportedly by Cameroonian troops.

Nurse Arrey Rose says the association of nurses called on the medical community to show solidarity by attending the funeral service.

“We have mobilized to let the world know that doctors, nurses, laboratory technicians and pharmacists are tortured and killed just for saving lives,” Rose said. “God spared mine when I was pulled out of hospital and beaten just because I was accused of hiding terrorists. Many are dead, many are wounded.”

The violence has led patients and medical staff to desert hospitals in both the northwest and southwest.

Eighteen-year-old Mundi Ernestine says that when she took her younger brother to Bamenda regional hospital, there was no one to treat him.

“God has been sustaining him,” Ernestine said. “We were not attended to in the hospital for a week because the staff was absent. We had to carry him on our back through the bush to Bamenda, which is a bit calm. He is recovering, but my fear is that many are dying in the bushes just because there is no nurse to help.”

The Cameroon Medical Council says, due to the ongoing conflict, the exact number of medical staff who have fled the two volatile regions is unknown.

Governor Bilai is calling on them to return. He says all political leaders and civil society groups should educate runaway staff to go back to their work, especially now that the military is protecting medical facilities.

More than 300 civilians and security forces have been killed in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions since 2016, when separatists launched their drive for an independent state they call Ambazonia.

The United Nations says at least 200,000 people have been internally displaced in the conflict and tens of thousands have fled to neighboring Nigeria.
Source :https://www.voanews.com/a/medical-staff-abandon-hospitals-cameroon-troubled-region/4531373.html

THE PERMANENT SECRETARY,

Ministry of Health,

P.O. Box 30205,

Ndeke House,

Lusaka.

16th August, 2018.

Dear Sir,

RE: MINISTRY OF HEALTH PERSONNEL TRANSFERS

It is with a very heavy heart and degree of frustration and desperation with which I am compelled to write this letter. If past and present experience with regard to the matter in subject is anything to go by, I will not expect the courtesy of an answer, or even an acknowledgement, however I would be happy just to have you read and take note of the concerns expressed.

I am based on the copperbelt and working in the mines as a process engineer.

My wife has served the Zambian Government under the Ministry of Health, Samfya District Hospital since her first appointment in July 2011, having entered as a registered nurse rising to a midwife (whose confirmation she is awaiting), so I think I can safely say I speak with some degree of knowledge in civil service matters, and in particular your ministry.

As a civil servant it is always my wife’s policy and that of other hard working colleagues that they serve the government of the day, and in so doing serve the people of Zambia to the best of their abilities. With the aforementioned, it is my considered opinion that I would be remiss in my duty if the issue of transfers was not brought to your attention.

If one has regard to the workforce in civil service over the past few years to now particularly in your Ministry, one sees glaring, obvious and hugely costly mistakes. Mistakes that can only be described as unperturbed, inhuman, unthrifty and inconsiderate with regards to the precious human resource.

Allow me to bring to your attention these lacunas in your Ministry. I know that one of the requirements for one to be transferred such a person needs to find a replacement to swap with. But how many people would voluntarily be willing to relocate from the urban to go and serve in the rural setup where there isn’t any tangible inducement? In as much as the old adage ‘’patience pays’’ might be apt, I have news for you sir, there is a limit to which patience indemnifies. Beyond that limit, it starts to pain and bleeds despair and frustration. It makes the heart spiteful. I know that this sounds mundane and perhaps a little condescending, and I am by no means making light of the issue, but someone can only be truly patient if he or she is able to see some form of light at the end of the tunnel. That however has not been our case despite many attempts of fighting for a transfer.

My wife and I are just one of the many couples who are constantly living away from each other in an effort to make ends meet. We are a couple who do not even know how it feels to stay under one roof as husband and wife. Our children are living as though they were orphans with only one parent. Our conjugal rights as a married couple and the rights of our children to enjoy interactions with both parents have unsympathetically been trampled upon by the authorities entrusted to defend them.

In as much as we would pride ourselves in being Christians of sound morals, we are also aware of how treacherous a heart can be. We cannot always be 100% confident that things will continue the way they are. My wife is only human. I am too. Any of us can give in to infidelity as this thread of love that holds us together keeps growing thinner and thinner with the passing of time and long distance.

How on earth are you expecting such a zest-drained and frustrated workforce to perform to full capacity? A workforce whose plight has been thrown into desuetude? How would you feel being incriminated as a reason for the collapse of your son’s and daughter’s marriage? Please try to put yourself in our shoes!

I am well aware of the procedures you have put in place to effect transfers. However I am very sceptical about their effectiveness and in my view they favour those with strong connections or the corrupt. I have seen people being transferred barely a year after being deployed. What criteria do they use? If my allegations sound spurious, kindly take time to check through your transfer records and confirm in all honesty how many were purely effected according to the laid down procedures. Were they all done on swapping basis, ill health related or are there those with unexplained circumstances and how many?

As this letter is intended not only to bring the above to your attention, but also to perhaps try and assist in alleviating the problem, herewith my humble thoughts on the matter. Firstly with regards to postings; why can’t your ministry introduce some deliberate provision where you give a specific period of service to those in the rural areas after which those who have served especially the married ones can be allowed to move and join their spouses? Let the newly appointed occupy the vacancies created in those areas. It is my deep conviction that the said steps will help build strong marriages, cut down on divorce cases, reduce on STI transmissions and raise responsible children. Secondly, introduction of some special incentives will encourage people to work in rural setups. This will ease urban-rural cross transfers.

I do hope that the above gives you some punctilious food for thought, and perhaps I can expect your office and the ministry at large to take the lead in addressing these issues, which affect us all each and every day. Please help save our marriages!

Kind Regards,

Humphrey Chiswaswa (Mr)

+260-969-641-007/+260-973-560-955

humphreychiswaswa@gmail.com

Cc: Minister of Health