Where did all the nurses go ?
Mar 16, 2008
WHAT would you do if, as a patient, you called for a nurse who did not show up for an hour? “I would die!†says Joyce Akello, a 30-year-old mother of two, “What is the reason to live if a hospital doesn’t care about me?â€
By Carol Natukunda
WHAT would you do if, as a patient, you called for a nurse who did not show up for an hour? “I would die!†says Joyce Akello, a 30-year-old mother of two, “What is the reason to live if a hospital doesn’t care about me?â€
Many patients share Akello’s concerns.
But why would a patient go to hospital only to find no nurse to attend to them? This is one of the issues that participants at the First Global Forum on Human Resources for Health at Speke Resort Munyonyo in Kampala were trying to tackle.
The conference under the theme: ‘The Time to Act is Now’ aimed at tackling the problem of brain-drain of health workers and finding ways to stop it.
Participants listened with rapt attention as various speakers passionately expressed the gravity of the human resources crisis, wondering what lies ahead if people continued dying needlessly simply because most of the doctors and nurses were either shunning their jobs or going for greener pastures overseas.
A presentation by the Capacity Project, Uganda’s Ministry of Health and the Nurses and Midwives Council showed that the numbers of the certified nurses are much lower than they were when they were student nurses.
The presentation, authored by among others, Rita Matte of the nurses and midwives council noted that since 1970, Uganda has trained 28,064 student nurses and midwives; 21,011 of them passed examination while 16,739 have become registered.
“There is a significant gap between the number of those who are trained and those who receive licensure,†read the abstract. This means that the nurses could either be migrating overseas or going into a different field altogether.
The scenario was not any different from neighbouring countries like Sudan where out of the 5,000 students who enrolled in nursing and paramedical disciplines, only 1,000 were practicing nurses.
With hospitals struggling to attract more nurses, some health experts expressed worry that there is a possible direct link between lack of nurses and potentially fatal patient complications and disease.
Judith Oulton, the chief executive officer of the International Council of Nurses fears that insufficient numbers of nurses impact health delivery systems in their ability to provide care and services.
“A hospital is not run by doctors alone,†Oulton told The New Vision, “A doctor does his work, but if you don't have a nurse who is following up, what happens to the patient?â€
Rajat Gupta, the board chairman of the Global Fund also acknowledged that severe nursing shortages and low professional retention rates were affecting delivery of basic and HIV/AIDS health services and increasing the impact of disease.
“We recognise that the human resource crisis is the biggest factor frustrating the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria,†Gupta said.
But the nurses that talked to The New Vision said the choices they make are not always deliberate. They complained about having to work all day long, despite the high numbers of patients, who required much more and attention.
“Our nurse/patient ratio is about 1:1000, yet the World Health Organisation recommends 1:2 for the fatal complications and 1:5 for the common illnesses,†says Edith Nassuna an officer with the Uganda Medical Workers Association.
“It's very stressful. This isn't like a front desk job where you see off one person after another; so that is why some nurses are opting for other businesses,†Nassuna explains.
Another nursing officer from Mulago Hospital added: “Even if I am recruited, when I am tired, I go home. These are patients' lives. Rather than force myself to work when I am already tired, make a mistake and I am blamed, I would rather I go home.â€
Some nurses also reveal they are demoralised because of low pay in the face of the ever-rising cost of living.
Oulton called for the need for governments to make nursing a more appealing choice.
“Sometimes, employment is available, but inconvenient – if there are no allowances or there are patients without supplies; people don’t work or go into other fields. But sometimes, the jobs are not there either, so the nurses have no option but to leave.
â€She doesn’t blame some nurses for going overseas but asks for countries to consider the needs of a particular nurse’s background.
“It doesn’t mean that you don’t migrate, but take the responsibility of training for our own needs,†Oulton said.
WHAT would you do if, as a patient, you called for a nurse who did not show up for an hour? “I would die!†says Joyce Akello, a 30-year-old mother of two, “What is the reason to live if a hospital doesn’t care about me?â€
Many patients share Akello’s concerns.
But why would a patient go to hospital only to find no nurse to attend to them? This is one of the issues that participants at the First Global Forum on Human Resources for Health at Speke Resort Munyonyo in Kampala were trying to tackle.
The conference under the theme: ‘The Time to Act is Now’ aimed at tackling the problem of brain-drain of health workers and finding ways to stop it.
Participants listened with rapt attention as various speakers passionately expressed the gravity of the human resources crisis, wondering what lies ahead if people continued dying needlessly simply because most of the doctors and nurses were either shunning their jobs or going for greener pastures overseas.
A presentation by the Capacity Project, Uganda’s Ministry of Health and the Nurses and Midwives Council showed that the numbers of the certified nurses are much lower than they were when they were student nurses.
The presentation, authored by among others, Rita Matte of the nurses and midwives council noted that since 1970, Uganda has trained 28,064 student nurses and midwives; 21,011 of them passed examination while 16,739 have become registered.
“There is a significant gap between the number of those who are trained and those who receive licensure,†read the abstract. This means that the nurses could either be migrating overseas or going into a different field altogether.
The scenario was not any different from neighbouring countries like Sudan where out of the 5,000 students who enrolled in nursing and paramedical disciplines, only 1,000 were practicing nurses.
With hospitals struggling to attract more nurses, some health experts expressed worry that there is a possible direct link between lack of nurses and potentially fatal patient complications and disease.
Judith Oulton, the chief executive officer of the International Council of Nurses fears that insufficient numbers of nurses impact health delivery systems in their ability to provide care and services.
“A hospital is not run by doctors alone,†Oulton told The New Vision, “A doctor does his work, but if you don't have a nurse who is following up, what happens to the patient?â€
Rajat Gupta, the board chairman of the Global Fund also acknowledged that severe nursing shortages and low professional retention rates were affecting delivery of basic and HIV/AIDS health services and increasing the impact of disease.
“We recognise that the human resource crisis is the biggest factor frustrating the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria,†Gupta said.
But the nurses that talked to The New Vision said the choices they make are not always deliberate. They complained about having to work all day long, despite the high numbers of patients, who required much more and attention.
“Our nurse/patient ratio is about 1:1000, yet the World Health Organisation recommends 1:2 for the fatal complications and 1:5 for the common illnesses,†says Edith Nassuna an officer with the Uganda Medical Workers Association.
“It's very stressful. This isn't like a front desk job where you see off one person after another; so that is why some nurses are opting for other businesses,†Nassuna explains.
Another nursing officer from Mulago Hospital added: “Even if I am recruited, when I am tired, I go home. These are patients' lives. Rather than force myself to work when I am already tired, make a mistake and I am blamed, I would rather I go home.â€
Some nurses also reveal they are demoralised because of low pay in the face of the ever-rising cost of living.
Oulton called for the need for governments to make nursing a more appealing choice.
“Sometimes, employment is available, but inconvenient – if there are no allowances or there are patients without supplies; people don’t work or go into other fields. But sometimes, the jobs are not there either, so the nurses have no option but to leave.
â€She doesn’t blame some nurses for going overseas but asks for countries to consider the needs of a particular nurse’s background.
“It doesn’t mean that you don’t migrate, but take the responsibility of training for our own needs,†Oulton said.