s much as I wished to shy away
from this, my conscience won’t just
let me or probably its because of
the love I have for this profession
that pushed me to write this! It is
no longer strange to hear that
nurses who are surposed to be
caring are sometimes called
careless and the most wicked
group of professionals in the health
sector by some members.

Hmmmmm, I agree with you, I feel
your pains. Or what do you expect
of a man who had spent all his life
savings on his wife who has been
bedridden for months with no hope
of taking a turn for the better to say
of a Nurse who can’t ignore all
other patients and attend to the wife
alone, isn't she wicked?

Like I mentioned in
an article of mine,
"Quackery and its
devastating effects on the health of
Nigerians", not everybody you see
in white uniform is a Nurse! What
gave you that Conviction that the
"wicked lady" in white that attended
to you during your last visit to the
hospital was a Nurse? Did you ask
that simple question, are you a
Registered Nurse? What was her
response? Oh! You didn’t deem it fit
to ask?

Every profession has ethics guiding
its conduct and Nursing isn’t an
exemption. Professional Nurses are
aware they are liable to be sued by
their employers and their patients or
get their license revoked by the
Nursing council when these ethics
are not properly followed. For
instance, are you aware that as a
patient you can sue your Nurse and
even your doctor or the hospital for
malpractice, oh yes! I mean it.
Malpractice is negligence,
misconduct or breach of duty by a
healthcare professional that results
in injury /damage to the patient
(Reising & Allen,2007 ).

Malpractices can occur when the
healthcare team fails to follow up
care, communicate, act as patients’
advocate, and follow the chain of
command etc. Professionals are
aware of these, hence the need to
be extra careful while dealing with
patients. I am not saying Nurses
are super heroes, they are not
perfect either but it is only in
Nigeria that Nurses are expected to
perform optimally even when the
hospital environment is not
condusive.

Efficiency of labour is determined by
two factors, an optimal working
condition and good renumeration.
Nurses are the most important
figures in the health sector, with an
average nigerian Nurse spending
over 12 hours in the hospital on
daily basis attending to patients
suffering from various forms of life
threatening illness. The first person
you come in contact with after
delievery is a Nurse and the last
person before death is the Nurse.

Have you ever wondered how much
these Nurses earn annually despite
these tasking responsibilities ? Oh!
You belong to the group of persons
who say Nurses earn big?
The word "improvise" is now a
common language in nursing.
When basic hospital needs are not
provided by our government and
hospital management, are we
expected to fold our arms and
watch while these patients
commited to our care die in pains
and agony? Hell no! We result to
improvising and an average
Nigerian Nurse has now become an
expert in such situations. We
improvise for tourniquets, flannels,
trollies, trays, beds, even gloves,
just name it.

When these little but vital things are
not put in place, how then do we
expect the Nurse to function
optimally?
Just few months ago, the National
Association of Nigeria Nurses and
Midwives, Luth chapter declared an
indefinite strike due to epileptic
supply of electricity at the hospital,
inadequate equipment, provision of
consumables, irregular water
supply and non payment of salaries
among others. The hospital
management has always been
aware of this but never showed any
interest in attempting to change
this. Peradventure the strike will be
called off tomorrow, I know not.

Yeah! Nurses are overworked and
earn peanuts yet, the peanut we
earn are not even paid on time. If
you are confused, ask the nurses in
Ekiti state who have not been paid
for a while now.
The crux of the matter is that these
nurses suffer cold shoulder in the
hands of our clients ( patients and
relatives). Violence against nurses
is a complex and persistent
occupational hazard facing the
nursing profession in Nigeria. This
violence can take the form of
intimidation, harassment, stalking,
beatings, rapings and other forms of
assaults. Psychological
consequences resulting from these
violence are sadness, depresion,
frustration, mistrust and
nervousness thereby reducing the
efficiency or care rendered by these
angels in uniforms. Examples of
these attacks on nurses are too
numerous to recount.

The belief held by members of the
public is that Nursing is a
humanitarian service or services
rendered to humanity, which ever
way, therefore Nurses deserve not
to be paid at all or better still earn
peanuts. But have you ever
wondered how much student
nurses pay as school fees per
session?
How then does it cost this much
just to render a humanitarian
service? If Nursing is truly a
humanitarian service, then Nurses
should enjoy humanitarian
services. Are our children enjoying
free education? Are our house rents
free? Do we eat for free at the public
or supper markets? Even when we
fall sick, yes! Nurses fall sick too ,
we pay our hospital bills just like
the normal patients, then tell me
what it means to render
humanitarian services. Nigerian
trained nurses are flying abroad for
greener pastures and when they get
there, they shine because they
trained in one of the harshest
educational atmosphere, you’re
disputing that? Ask around.

Funny enough, when our politicians
here run abroad for treatments,
they ended up being attended to by
these same Nigerian trained
nurses. Of a truth, every profession
has it ups and downs, disrespect,
harassment and assault seems to
be peculiar to Nursing profession
alone and as long as these continue
without putting any government
policy in place to adress it, as long
as improvisions continue, a long as
renumerations are poor and
working environment (hospitals )
are not conducive. As long as
politicians fly abroad for an
ordinary ear problems, never
expect the quality nursing services
in nigeria to improve.

Nurses are the most important
figure in the health profession and
they deserve to be treated as such.
We too are human...
In my life time, NURSING must
flourish! I am a Nurse, I chose to
be one and I’m proud I am.


By Oluwatosin Kehinde Odunayo
RN.
Inspired Nurses

hmm

Hu told u i waz born in d hospital