Saleh Ndaski, the Head of Nursing Department, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, has called for adequate training and retraining, as well as motivation of nurses for quality healthcare delivery in the country.
Ndaski made the call at the annual national conference of National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) Federal Health Institutions Sector in Abuja.
The conference has as its theme “Nursing Models/Theories for Effective Nursing Practice.”
The NANNM head described nurses as custodians of patients and the only healthcare providers who worked 24 hours.
He said nurses required continuous training to keep them abreast of emerging trends in the health sector.
He added that “nurses require adequate training and retraining because healthcare problems are emerging and a lot of diseases are coming up and they need to be abreast with such problems and how to effectively tackle them.
“Nurses require motivation to be able to provide the best of services required of them as majority of them are not well motivated and this is a major gap in quality care.”
Ndaski noted that a lot of reforms were done in the profession with regard to scientific discovery.
He, however, added that a lot of theories and models that existed in the practice were not fully utilised by nurses due to lack of adequate knowledge, decayed infrastructure, among others.
He said that those theories and models provide nurses with perfect care and services, as well as quality healthcare delivery.
According to him, nurses are always concerned about patients having the best of care within the health sector, hence the theme of the conference.
Mr Wale Olatunde, the National Chairman of NANNM, reiterated the determination of the association to regulate the activities of Nigerian nurses and midwives in the most effective manner.
This, he said would ensure best practices and safeguard best healthcare delivery for all Nigerians.
According to him, the theme of the conference is carefully selected based on the nurses’ conviction that there must be shift from theory development to theory utilisation in health facilities.
Olatunde said this would help to restore proper relationship between theory and practice.
“Nursing is now in the era of utilisation of philosophies, models and theories for clinical nursing practice,” he said.
The chairman said that the theme was aimed at enhancing the capacity of the professionals and equipping them intellectually to select a theoretical work that would guide their daily clinical practice.
“This remains one of the practical ways in which we can help to reverse the current rating of the country’s health indices.
“The effectiveness of clinical nursing services remain critical in determination of quality health care services.”
The conference, according to him, is part of the association’s contributions toward complementing government’s efforts in its drive to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the citizens.
Mr Faruk Abubakar, the Registrar, Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria, urged the nurses to deliver their duty with all diligence by prioritising the interest of patients.
Abubakar urged them to always discharge their duties to the best of their ability.
He said that nurses should consider the plights of patients in order to achieve quality care, “which is the sole aim of nursing or other professional practices in the health sector.”
