KUCHING: Normah Medical Specialist Centre celebrated International Nurses’ Day yesterday to recognise and appreciate the role nurses play in delivering the highest quality care and tireless commitment to patients.
Nurses, including International College of Advanced Technology Sarawak (iCATS) nursing students, gathered for a morning assembly where they renewed their oath, performed songs and cut a cake.
International Nurses’ Day is celebrated around the world on May 12 every year in remembrance of Florence Nightingale’s birthday.
The theme for this year’s celebration is ‘Nurses: A Force for Change: Care Effective, Cost Effective’.
Nursing executive director Nadzrah Basri reminded nurses to continue providing quality care with compassion to patients at all times.
“As a single largest profession in the health workforce, nurses are well positioned to drive efficiency, effectiveness and improvements while providing quality care and attaining optimal patient and population outcomes,” she said in her address at the Nurses’ Day assembly.
“Nurses can create enormous impact in reducing health cost and increasing quality of care,” she added.
Global health, she pointed out, cannot be achieved without nurses as well as their proactive contributions and participation at all levels of the healthcare system.
This year’s International Nurses Day Kit contains tools and information to assist and encourage nurses to become engaged and knowledgeable about health system financing as a means to achieving quality care and patient safety in a cost-effective way.
“Other information includes efficient use of resources, enhanced service delivery, effective management, efficient health workforce and the value of nursing,” she said.
Nurses, Nadzrah emphasised, are part of the solution to achieve better health for all in a cost effective and care effective way.
“In analysing cost effectiveness, we also need to consider care effectiveness, which means care based on scientific evidence that produces the intended results or outcomes,” she explained.
In reference to nurses, she said care effectiveness is the extent to which health problems are solved and the degree to which outcomes are achieved.
“If we add cost effectiveness to this definition, it means nurses achieve the intended health outcomes at less cost, with quality as an underpinning element,” she added.
Quoting Florence Nightingale, she said: “The progressive world is necessarily divided into two classes – those who take the best of what there is and enjoy it and those who wish for something better and try to create it.”
“Unless we are making progress in our nursing every year, every month, every week, take my word for it we are going back,” she continued.
Nadzrah hopes nurses will be inspired to change and bring creativity and professional perspective to the transformation of the nursing role in order to achieve equity, deliver universal health coverage and ultimately improving health outcome.
“As in the International Council of Nurses (ICN) Code of Ethics for Nurses, nurses have four fundamental responsibilities – to promote health, to prevent illness, to restore health and to alleviate suffering,” she reminded.
Nadzrah thus encouraged nurses to make extended use of the kit through individual action and group activities.
“With our team spirit and a very supportive leadership, I believe we can make a difference in the provision of healthcare service to the institution and the people we serve,” she added.
Normah Medical Specialist Centre had organised various activities to celebrate excellence in nursing since Sunday, including a visit to Gita-Matang Community Based Rehabilitation Centre and Telaga Air where they conducted free health screening and education for the community.
Directors of Nursing Susana Wee and Lau Leh Ming were among those present.
Source:http://www.theborneopost.com/2015/05/13/normah-medical-celebrates-nurses-day/
