Things Nurses and Doctors Should Never Post on Social Media

Social media can be a blessing and a curse. It serves as an emotional outlet and keeps long distance friends connected, but it can also be dangerous.

Of course, there are certain things you should never say to coworkers in the office, but this rule also extends to online communications. Healthcare professionals have been penalized or fired for inappropriate postings on social media. That’s why it’s important to carefully consider what you share on social media and the possible ramifications.

Protect your reputation online by avoiding these 5 things healthcare professionals should never post on social media.

1. Pictures of Patients – You may have bonded with your patient, but posting pictures or videos of them on social media is a huge no-no. You’re not only violating your patient’s privacy; you’re also putting your job at risk. If you need to share medical images for educational purposes, you should follow the proper procedure of obtaining consent. This means forget tweeting an image of an ongoing surgery. No one needs to see that.

2. Patient’s Status – There’s a huge difference between telling everyone on Facebook what you had for breakfast and giving a play by play of your patient’s medical status. Once again, this is a serious violation of a patient’s privacy and also illegal. So, do yourself a favor and stick to sharing baby photos and pictures of cats.

3. Bashing your workplace – Yes, not everyone is going to like where they work, but there is a time and a place for venting. You might need that hospital or facility for a future reference, so keep your negative feelings off of social media. Instead, talk to a friend, invest in a stress reliever or take your feelings out on an unsuspecting punching bag.

4. Party pictures – After a hectic week at the office, you may want to let your hair down and have some fun. There is nothing wrong with living a little, but be mindful of what you post on your social media accounts, especially when you’re looking for a new job. Hospitals and healthcare facilities will scan your social media, and those party pictures may hinder your efforts.

5. Trash-talking coworkers – No matter where you work, there will always be one person that will rub you the wrong way. But even if they’re extremely annoying, that does not mean you should criticize them on social media. Be careful of what you say on your social media accounts, as it could come back to haunt you in the future.

So remember, never post anything on the internet that you may regret sharing later. Once it’s out there, you can’t take it back.

Nigeria Government Increases Maternity Leave To 4 Months

The Federal Government of Nigeria has increased maternity leave from three to four months, the government also barred employers from sacking married women.
Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, made this known at the ongoing International Labour Conference (ILC), in Geneva, Switzerland, yesterday. He said;
“Employers of labour (in Nigeria) are, by regulation, requested to provide workplace crèches for nursing mothers for ease at work place. In the public service, government recently increased the period for maternity leave from 12 to 16 weeks; to allow enough recuperation for both baby and mother, especially in the area of breast feeding.
“In addition, all disciplinary proceedings against any female staff, which might have been taken during the period of her maternity leave shall be put in abeyance till the expiration of the leave.
“Employers of labour are also barred from removal of women from work due to their marital or maternity status, illegal labour migration, contract staffing and labour casualisation which affects most women, are being reformed through policies and regulations at national, bilateral and multilateral levels.”
“The ratification, domestication and implementation of the Maternity Protection Convention No. 186 are conscious efforts to ensure that more women enjoy maternity protection in the country…”
The Minister also said that a lot needed to “be done in terms of putting in place appropriate legislation, policies and practices to deal with the gender gaps that inhibit greater participation of women in the labour force.”
He added that the most effective method of eliminating gender inequality from the workplace lies in vigorous opposition to employers’ discriminatory conducts, policies and harassment in all forms wherever and whenever they occur.
To address gender inequality and youth unemployment in Nigeria, Ngige told delegates that the federal government drew up and has been implementing an Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).
Source: The Punch News

‘We want DHLOMO GONE’- KwaZulu-Natal Nurses

CARRYING placards saying “Dhlomo must fall”, KwaZulu-Natal nurses marched to the Natalia building from Alexandra Park last Thursday where they submitted their memorandum of demands.

THE NURSES DEMANDED THE FOLLOWING

• More nurses must be hired by the Department of Health.

• Withdrawal of the new policy demanding nurses pay restoration fees as it was not explained what the money is used for.

• South African Nursing Council (SANC) fees must not increase until nurses are informed what it is for.

• SANC must give accreditation to Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Colleges so that nurses can also benefit from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas).

The nurses accused Department of Health MEC Dr Sbongiseni Dhlomo for neglecting their demands and the problems they face on a daily basis at work. They have vowed to engage into a strike if their demands are not met.

Bheki Gumbi from the Nurses Forum in KwaZulu-Natal said they want KwaZulu-Natal Premier Willies Mchunu to set up a meeting with them (the nurses) to discuss a way forward on how he is going to deal with Dhlomo.

“The department does not want to hire nurses although it knows that we are short staffed. Three nurses are forced to take care of 50 patients in a ward because there are no nurses to work in hospitals.

“We can not even go and further our studies because the Department of Health asks us who is going to work if we take leave.

“We heard that there is research that was done which reveals that there are 46 000 vacancies in the department for nurses, but the department still does not want to hire them. Why?” he asked.

Gumbi said they have seen that Dhlomo is against the nurses and that is why they want him out. He said Dhlomo always portrays them as bad people in the public while they are doing the best for his department.

“If they do not remove Dhlomo as the MEC we will go and sit at parliament until he is fired. We are giving the department one month to respond to our demands or we will engage in a protest. They must remember that if we engage in a protest people in hospitals will die. After a month we will come back to demand our answers and we will not leave until we have received them,” he said.

The nurses also threatened to expose everything that is happening within the department .

Head of department Dr Musa Gumede accepted the memorandum and promised that the department will look into the demands and respond.

The department does not want to hire nurses although it knows that we are short staffed. Three nurses are forced to take care of 50
patients in a ward because there are no nurses to work
in hospitals. We can not
even go and further our
studies because the Department of Health asks us
who is going to work if we take leave.

UK is Relaxing visa rules for doctors and nurses

A letter to the prime minister from leading health think tanks is the latest plea for a rethink on visa rules that have affected NHS recruitment from outside the European Union. They argue that the NHS workforce is “facing a crisis” with shortages of key staff.

The chief executives of the King’s Fund, the Nuffield Trust and the Health Foundation have come together to make a joint submission to Downing Street ahead of the much-anticipated long-term plan for the NHS promised by Theresa May.

A policy aimed at limiting the number of skilled workers from outside the EU has been criticised by employers. An annual cap of 20,700 has led to thousands of workers, including NHS staff, being denied visas.

The BBC revealed that visas for 100 Indian doctors had been refused. They had been offered short-term contracts as part of a long-running scheme in the north-west of England that provides junior doctors to more than 20 NHS trusts.

Another BBC investigation showed that genetic counsellors, who identify people at risk of hereditary cancer and other serious conditions, were being turned down for visas even though there were workforce shortages.

Image copyright JEFF OVERS/BBC

The Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, has said he will review the visa system for skilled workers, after lobbying by some cabinet ministers. He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme he was aware of the difficulties with NHS recruitment.

“I see the problem with that. It is something I’m taking a fresh look at,” he said.

The think tanks’ joint letter says there are “worrying shortages of nurses, GPs and hospital doctors”. It adds: “There is no option but to recruit more staff from overseas and to relax controls on visas.

“Nurses and some other health professionals, like radiographers, are on a shortage-occupation list, which means they are given priority in allocation of visas.

“But most doctors are not. And there has been a campaign by health employers to put all medical jobs on the shortage list or to take all NHS jobs temporarily out of the visa system.”

The think tank Global Future has produced analysis looking at the extent to which the NHS relies on overseas workers.

It says:

  • In the NHS in England, which employs about 1.2 million people in total, one in eight of those staff who have a known nationality – 12.5% – are from overseas
  • NHS staff in clinical roles are much more likely to come from abroad. About a quarter of doctors and 16% of nurses and health visitors are from overseas
  • Up to 45% of staff in some vital NHS specialties, including cardio-thoracic surgeons, paediatric cardiologists and neurosurgeons, are from outside the UK

Longer term, the lobbyists say, there needs to be a 10-year workforce strategy. And this must be given top priority and go “hand-in-hand” with the new funding settlement. They also call for real-terms funding increases of 4% per year. Anything less, they say, will compromise patient care and delay critical repairs to hospital buildings.

NHS leaders, in what looks like a planned campaign, have united behind the 4% per year figure. They fear that anything closer to 3%, which ministers may want to trumpet as a significant boost to NHS finances, won’t allow any improvement to current shortcomings in the system, such as rising waiting lists.

They are up against the Treasury, which has wider issues to deal with in the public finances.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies has noted that making a chunky new investment in the NHS will have to be accommodated in the government’s plan to balance the books by the mid-2020s.

“Unless it is able and willing to implement tax rises or further cuts to the social security budget over the rest of this Parliament, it is hard to see how a significant injection of additional cash into the NHS would be consistent with the government’s stated fiscal objective,” it says.

The uncertainty over the path of the economy and future borrowing requirements, adds the IFS, will make the Treasury even more cautious.

Expectation around the government’s long-term NHS funding plan has been growing by the day.

And now added to the calls for higher year-on-year spending are the demands for changes to immigration rules for health workers. That’s a lot for Theresa May to think about.

Source: BBC

High Salaries Attract 329 Indonesian Nurses to Japan

The Japanese Embassy in Jakarta has sent 329 Indonesians to work as medical workers and elderly nurses in Japan, Monday, June 4. This is the 11th group of medical workers and nurses from Indonesia to Japan.

BNP2TKI deputy for placement, Teguh Hendro Cahyono, said the program is a part of the Indonesa-Japan economic partnership corridor that has been established since 2008. Through the agreement, Indonesians can apply for jobs in Japan.

The number of medical workers departing to Japan increases each year; showing high enthusiasm for Indonesians to work in Japan—mainly due to the high salaries offered.

“The salary at where I will be working is ¥175,000 or around Rp21 million,” Rian Setiawan (23), who was leaving to work in an elderly care center in Yokohama, the capital of Kanagawa prefecture, told Tempo on June 4.

Rian and his 328 compatriots will be working in Japan under a contract that lasts three to four years. After a year of selection, they will be placed in hospitals and nursing homes in various regions Japan.

Prior to their departure, the candidates were given Japanese language course for six months in Jakarta. Their flight tickets are paid by the Japanese government.

TEMPO.CO

Critical care Jamaican nurses to complete training in China and UK

Some Jamaican nurses will be going to China and the United Kingdom to complete their training, according to Minister of Health, Dr Christopher Tufton.

Tufton made the announcement on Tuesday while making his contribution to the 2018/2019 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives.

He noted that the expansion of nurses’ training in Jamaica, particularly for advanced critical care nurses, is being hampered by a lack of resources.

The Health Minister reminded that he had told the House a year ago that Jamaican nurses are internationally demanded, in short supply and that as a country “we were restricted by the lack of clinical capacity, in particular to train more in Jamaica.”

Tufton noted that, in terms of theory, Jamaican nurses are well rounded, but there was a lack of hospital beds to train. The Health Minister said the Government took this challenge to its international partners and, following negotiations, has signed two bilateral agreements with China and the United Kingdom aimed at addressing the problems.

“We will see Jamaican nurses trained for a part of their advanced training in Jamaica and then go to Chinese and UK hospitals with their local tutors to complete their clinical rotation, a significant achievement that has never been achieved before,” Tufton said to applause.

He revealed that the first batch of nurses and their tutors will leave for China in July. The UK programme will commence in October with the first group leaving to the Leeds Teaching Hospital next April.

“In the first year, Mr Speaker, we will increase critical care nurses’ training by 100 per cent as a result of this new programme …it is something to celebrate,” Tufton told the House.

He also told the House that “the world is looking on and in fact we have been told by our partners that this may be a prototype for future training because one country cannot do it alone and there is a shortage of medically trained personnel globally, not just in Jamaica.”

The Health Minister expressed thanks to the two countries, noting that it took “a lot of negotiations to get it done.”

Jamaica Nurses head overseas to complete critical-care training

The United Kingdom and China have answered the call by Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton for bilateral partnership to boost the training of critical-care nurses. He had made the appeal in January 2017 at the World Health Organization’s summit in Switzerland.

“I am happy to announce, Mr Speaker, that a year on, we have signed not one, but two, bilateral agreements with our partners – China and United Kingdom (UK) – where our Jamaican nurses will train for a part of their advanced training here in Jamaica and then go on to Chinese and UK hospitals with their local tutors to complete their clinical rotation, Mr Speaker,” Tufton told the House while making his contribution to the Sectoral Debate yesterday.

He noted that, currently, Jamaica did not have sufficient hospital space to provide practical training.

Eighteen nurses are scheduled to depart for China next month, along with five tutors, and the minister said that the UK cohort would depart in October. According to Tufton, this programme would increase the training of critical-care nurses by 100 per cent.

“We have been told by our partners that this may be a prototype for future training, because one country cannot do it alone and there is a shortage of medically trained personnel globally, not just in Jamaica,” the health minister said.

The Real Heroes Of Nipah: Kerala Nurse Writes Moving Post On How They Helped Patients

Ruby Sajna, a nurse at Kozhikode Medical College Hospital, shared an emotional post about the recovery of a Nipah-affected patient. The death of Lini, a nurse who worked at Perambra hospital in Kerala, after contracting the Nipah Virus from a patient she attended to, had pushed the medical fraternity into a pall of gloom.
Now, a nurse working at Institute of Chest Disease at the Government Medical College Hospital in Kozhikode, where several Nipah Virus patients are being treated, has shared a heart-warming post that talks about how selflessly the medical staff have been attending to patients.
In a Facebook post, Ruby Sajna, a nurse at KMCH wrote ecstatically about the recovery of a 19-year-old nursing student, who had recently tested positive for Nipah Virus.
Stating that Ajanya, the nursing student is in the path of recovery from the deadly disease, nurse Ruby narrates how this recovery has come as a source of immense happiness for the team.
“She was brought in at the same time nurse Lini was brought to the hospital for treatment. Her (Ajanya) recovery gives us unparalleled happiness,” Ruby wrote in Malayalam.
Ajanya, she writes, was admitted in a critical state – having been affected by myocarditis, and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, she also showed signs of encephalitis.
Ruby recalled, “She came into our hands in a state of semi-consciousness. This was perhaps the first time that a Nipah affected patient recovered from such a fatal state. This was one instance when I understood what it means to be proud and inexplicably happy.
She also wrote that even as the media widely discussed the Nipah Virus and the government’s handling of the crisis, there were numerous nurses who worked tirelessly, away from the limelight.
“Both audio and visual media in Kerala and society have been discussing the Nipah Virus and government interventions continuously. Wrapped in polythene covers, wearing N-95 masks, which makes it tough for us to breathe freely and with three layers of hand gloves it is the nursing community that attends to Nipah-affected patients in hot and humid rooms, but that is often not spoken about. More than the recognition that we get through such discussions, we are more gratified when someone like Ajanya comes back,” she wrote.
Ruby added, “It was when I witnessed how the bodies of Nipah victims were being taken away from the hospital, that I began to think what the value of humans in this world is. Even when their own families stood away from the bodies, the staff did their duty without any issues.”
Nurse Ruby said that the recovery of the nursing student was the collective victory of the medical staff.
“Even when our small mistakes get amplified and reported in the media, the media should also understand the brave and in a way, scary situation we are now dealing with. Even as the nursing student’s recovery has given us happiness, our duty is not over; we now move on to other patients who need our care,” she wrote.
Speaking about the nursing student’s condition, a doctor who did not wished to be named, told The Times of India:
“She was in a very serious condition and there were episodes of seizures and we had to give her ventilator support initially. But she responded very well to treatment using Ribavirin tablets. She has now been shifted from ICU to an observation ward. With tests repeatedly turning negative, we can say that she has recovered.”
Ruby’s post has resonated with scores of people from Kerala, who have lauded the selfless service carried out by the nursing staff. The post, which was uploaded on June 2, has received more than 18,000 shares so far.
Source: TNM Staff

Dr Isabelle Skinner: The New CEO of The International Council of Nurses

From outback to Geneva: Mount Isa nurse to lead 20 million at the International Council of Nursing
Other than prime ministers or presidents, few people can empathise with the pressure of acting on the behalf of 20 million people. But that is what Dr Isabelle Skinner has been elevated to do in her appointment as the chief executive officer of the International Council of Nursing (ICN).
As a federation of more than 130 national nursing associations, including the Australian College of Nursing, Dr Skinner will soon represent more than 20 million nurses worldwide.
“[The ICN] is a mechanism for nurses to influence policy, and that’s at a global level,” Dr Skinner said. “The job is based in Geneva in Switzerland, it’s a long way from Mount Isa.”
The ICN began in 1899 and strives to give nurses a voice in creating the best practices globally — something Dr Skinner said is not always an easy thing.
“Most nurses work for health departments so it’s actually quite difficult for an individual nurse to have a strong voice on policy issues,” she said.
“So all of the council of national nursing organisations get together every couple of years and think about what it is and that we want to really focus on … for the next two years.
“Then we’ll be working with the World Health Organisation or the United Nations to try and address some of the issues that are really important to nurses.”
Nursing in the early days
Dr Skinner, currently a senior research fellow for James Cook University’s Mount Isa Centre for Rural and Remote Health, became at nurse at age 17 and has worked in numerous roles.
After completing training in the Royal Brisbane Hospital her first job was at Cloncurry Hospital.
PHOTO: Dr Isabelle Skinner will soon represent 20 million nurses worldwide and work alongside the World Health Organization. (ABC North West Queensland: Harriet Tatham)
“I’ve worked as a remote area nurse. I’ve been and midwife in neonatal intensive care. I’ve been a public health nurse. I’ve been a nurse manager and DON. And I’ve been a nurse researcher and a teacher,” she said.
Dr Skinner not only moved roles, but also locations — the Northern Territory and Katherine region in the mid-1980s, then through the nineties in WA’s Kimberley on the Dampier Peninsula.
It was in Broome she worked for the Kutjungka Health Service, and most recently she was back up in the Northern Territory out in Arnhem Land.
While her love for the profession has not wavered since she was a teenager, the practice of nursing has gone through major changes.
“When I first started, nurses were still trained in hospitals and so that was a very big change for nursing to move to the university sector,” Dr Skinner said.
“We’ve also moved to evidence-based practice. Certainly, when I started, you were told what to do by a nurse-in-charge. You just followed what they said.”
The benefit of remote nursing
While there is a widespread perception that some of the best career opportunities in healthcare come from metropolitan centres that are fitted with the latest technologies, Dr Skinner said she believed remote Australia was just an advantageous.
“You only get what you seek, and so if you seek to stay and in one place then that’s what you’ll get,” she said.
“But if you really want something different you can do that from anywhere. It doesn’t matter where you are.
“In fact, the chief nurse for the World Health Organisation comes from the Cook Islands, so it really doesn’t matter how remote you are. You can achieve, whatever it is you use seek.”
Dr Skinner will begin her role with the International Council of Nursing in Geneva in August.
ABC North West Qld By Harriet Tatham

Dr Isabelle Skinner appointed CEO of International Council of Nurses

The President and Board of Directors of the International Council of Nurses (ICN) today announced the appointment of Dr Isabelle Skinner as ICN’s new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) as of 1 August 2018.

Dr Skinner, a registered nurse and a registered midwife, is a member of the Australian College of Nurses. She is currently Senior Research Fellow at James Cook University in Mount Isa, Australia and has served as Associate Dean Research and Research Training and the Director of the Office of Learning and Teaching at Charles Darwin University. She is an experienced leader and innovator in health and higher education with expertise in leading innovation across health systems and high impact research to address complex health and social concerns. Dr Skinner holds a PhD from La Trobe University, a Masters in Public Health and Tropical Medicine from James Cook University, a Graduate Diploma in Professional Communications (multimedia) from the University of Southern Queensland and an Executive MBA from Melbourne Business School. She specialises in digital health and has researched and evaluated telehealth services, designed mHealth (mobile health) and eHealth (electronic health) services.

With 32 years of experience as a nurse, including progressive leadership, consulting and board experience, Dr Skinner has run her own research and consultancy business for the last four years, for which she was a finalist in the Telstra Business Woman of the Year for the Northern Territory. Dr Skinner was the State Commissioner for the Northern Territory and has extensive experience on the Boards of not-for-profit member organisations such as Girl Guides Australia and CRANAplus. She is a Fellow of CRANAplus, the Australian national health professional organisation for remote health practitioners and is an Aurora Award recipient for her leadership and advocacy for remote health.

Dr Skinner is passionate about improving access to specialist health care services for people in remote and rural communities around the world. She has worked with health care teams and students in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Singapore, Zimbabwe and China. The health promotion Facebook page she edits has nearly ½ a million followers in 49 countries. She was selected as ICN’s Chief Executive Officer among highly qualified candidates from around the world.

“I am delighted to welcome Dr Skinner as the new head of ICN. The ICN Board and staff look forward to working with her in this new role as CEO, as she continues and advances the tremendous work of Interim CEO Professor Thomas Kearns, leading nurses and the populations they serve to quality health care for all”, stated ICN’s President Annette Kennedy.
“I look forward to working with the ICN Board and all of our National Nursing Organisations to advance the standing of nurses and nursing globally. “ Dr Skinner said, “Nurses are the health systems’ biggest resource and are there in communities around the world preventing illness, monitoring, treating and caring for people across the lifespan. This is an exciting time for nurses to use our collective voice to lead in transforming our health systems and improving the health of our global community.”

Dr Skinner takes up the position currently being held by Interim CEO, Professor Thomas Kearns, who has led the organisation for the past nine months, continuing the transformation and structural changes needed to ensure that ICN continues as the global voice of nursing.

Note for Editors
The International Council of Nurses (ICN) is a federation of more than 130 national nurses associations representing the millions of nurses worldwide. Operated by nurses and leading nursing internationally, ICN works to ensure quality care for all and sound health policies globally.

For further information contact Julie Clerget at: media@icn.ch Tel: +41 22 908 0100 Fax: +41 22 908 0101 www.icn.ch www.icnvoicetolead.com

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