Nurses: A Voice To Lead – Nursing The World To Health:

On International Nurses Day 2020, the Heart and Stroke Foundation South Africa celebrates the true value of nurses to the people of the world. Each year, the International Council of Nursing (ICN), leads the celebration for International Nurses Day, which is traditionally held on 12 May, the date also has a strong significance being the birthday of perhaps the world’s most famous nurse, Florence Nightingale.

International Council of Nursing’s theme for International Nurses Day 2020 is, Nurses: A Voice to lead – Nursing the World to Health. The theme for 2020, demonstrates how nurses are central to addressing a wide range of health challenges. It will encourage nurses and the public to celebrate the big day, but also to provide information and resources that will help to raise the profile of the profession throughout the year and attract a new generation into the nursing family.

The latest COVID-19 statistics show thousands of confirmed cases and deaths worldwide as of December 2019. These sobering numbers, with 4.18 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 286 000 deaths worldwide, have led numerous countries to implement measures such as social distancing and mandatory quarantine to flatten the curve of spiked COVID-19 before they overwhelm the healthcare system. As hospitals worldwide buckle under the influx of cases of COVID-19, nurses work long and exhausting hours trying to save lives. This crisis has shone even further light on the high demand for nurses in our countries and the critical role they have within our healthcare system.

The COVID-19 pandemic is testing all of us, but nurses and other health care workers are the frontlines and the pandemic only highlights and elevates the central role that nurses serve in healthcare. We are seeing many different ways nurses are contributing, adapting and taking the lead during these difficult times. The anxiety of knowing you might be at risk when doing your job can be challenging for health care workers and is physically and mentally draining. During disease outbreak, nurses put their own safety at risk to care for others. Those leading the fight against COVID-19 must support both patients and nurses, ensuring risk to the health of the nurses are minimised and receive much needed mental and physical support. Government and the business sectors’ key objective is to ensure there is a consistent supply of critical personal protective equipment to protect healthcare workers who are working tirelessly to ensure the public remains safe during this pandemic.

According to the American Heart Association, “caution should be encouraged for elderly people with coronary disease, hypertension, diabetes or persons who have suffered a stroke, as they are more likely to be affected by COVID-19 and may face a higher risk of complications from COVID-19. If you have CVD, you form part of a group that is known as “risk group” for COVID-19 infection. Having CVD and other medical conditions puts you at risk. Nurses and other medical staff will be doing their utmost to care for these patients, whilst being at a greater risk of exposure to COVID-19.

COVID-19 prevalence highlights the need for trained nurses to care for patients and educate the public about slowing the spread of the virus along with leading efforts to make the hospitals safer for all healthcare professionals. Nurses treat patients of all ages and high-risk population groups, such as people living with diabetes, hypertension, severe obesity and heart and stroke disease.
The nursing workforce consists of clinical skills, such as taking medical histories, vital signs and performing tests, along with educating patients on achieving and maintaining good health. The role of nurses’ centres on administering medication, educating patients about nutrition, healthy lifestyle and exercise. They also work as part of multidisciplinary care teams to perform CPR and formulate plans of action in trauma situations and ensure patients become stabilized and are comfortable.

The COVID-19 outbreak and other health emergencies, significantly heighten the effects of the shortage of the nursing workforce. Some startling statistics also show that even without a pandemic, adding just one patient to a nurse’s workload causes a 7% increase inpatient mortality.

Since the pandemic, many health care workers have contracted the virus. As the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases accelerate, nurses on the frontline of healthcare have found themselves in unprecedented positions making high stake decisions for patient and their own personal lives. It is a time of great stress and uncertainty and nurses are rising to the challenge.

All around the world, nurses are working tirelessly to provide care and attention people need, whenever and where ever they need it. The taking away point for International Nurses Day is for all to demonstrate the unique role that nurses play of working with people from birth to death and highlight that nurses should be celebrated throughout the year as they are central to the delivery of health care.

We are deeply saddened by the death of Ntombizakithi Ngidi, Petronella Benjamin and other nurses who have succumbed to the COVID-19 virus. As we mark International Nurses Day, we honour these real-life heroes for their commitment and their care.

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Author: Business News