Mr Victor Afetsi, a Nursing Officer (NO) at the Atua Government Hospital in the Lower Manya Krobo District, has called on members of the public not to always blame wrong-doing in healthcare facilities on nurses and midwives.
He expressed concern that some members of the public regarded all officials in hospitals as nurses and, therefore, tarnished the image of nurses with the slightest misunderstanding at any department or unit of hospitals which may not even be units run by nurses.
“We have different professionals within hospital settings, and even within the clinical settings, we have different categories of staff, and so it is unfair to blame nurses and midwives who sometimes may have absolutely nothing to do with a situation in the hospital,” he said.
The experienced NO’s call came on the backdrop of verbal and sometimes physical attacks on nurses and midwives when issues of healthcare delivery in hospitals surfaced in the public, especially in both traditional and social media.
Even though Mr Afetsi conceded that nurses and midwives were not “angels”, he appealed to members of the public to minimize and possibly stop such unwarranted attacks on them.
“We as nurses are the face and the backbone of the healthcare delivery system. Such attacks are demotivating, discouraging and have the tendency to affect healthcare delivery,” Mr Afetsi said in an interview.
Much as the NO, who is a member of the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA), bemoaned the “unfair” attacks on his colleagues in the nursing and midwifery professions which he described as “noble”, he urged them to exhibit high standards of professionalism in the discharge of their duties.
“Even though we are sometimes overwhelmed by the workload on the respective wards in hospitals, we have to remain professional, compassionate, patient and therapeutic in our communication with patients and clients,” Mr Afetsi said.
He admonished nurses to concentrate on their job descriptions and not take up the duties and responsibilities of doctors saying, “Let us concentrate on our prescribed job descriptions and allow the doctors to also do their work so that we do not fall on the wrong side of the law.”
Touching on drug abuse among the youth, Mr Afetsi observed that deviant behaviours including disrespect towards the elderly in society could be attributed to substance abuse, especially the use of tramadol.
“It is a very worrying situation, and I think that stakeholders must strengthen efforts towards the seemingly increasing incidence of substance abuse,” Mr Afetsi said.
