Follow pledge of nurse Nightingale
WHEN Louise Bennett and her daughter Claire start chatting about their day, it’s clear they are passionate about what they do.
Both nurses, the duo said their careers were “a calling”, as they celebrate International Nurses Day today and Mother’s Day tomorrow.
International Nurses Day is celebrated on May 12, the day Florence Nightingale, described as the founder of modern-day nursing, was born.
“Nursing was a calling. I knew from age 2 that I wanted to be a nurse, and started by lining up dolls in a row and feeding them a medical concoction of tea and milk that left a really bad smell,” said Bennett, regional officer for occupational health at Life Healthcare in Pinetown.
When she qualified in 1972, Louise worked at a local hospital and then as a district nurse at a coffee factory. She agreed with the plea from KZN Health MEC, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo, calling for nurses to return to nursing’s basic principles.
Dhlomo said nurses needed to “go back to basics, where nurses used to be at the forefront of taking care in providing care and empathy to patients”.
“When we started, we were told we needed to treat our patients the way we would like to be treated if we were in their position, and this included the family of the patient.
“In those days, we used to wash their hair, clip their nails, make them comfortable. We strictly followed Florence Nightingale’s pledge, which was to be compassionate.
“There was a holistic approach, and there was continuity in our work, so each patient was handed over properly to the next nurse on duty. In a ward of 30, there would be eight or nine nurses.
“We also did home visits for first-time moms to make sure they were okay and breastfeeding correctly. We did dressings, changed oxygen canisters, and washed curtains, all the while talking to the patient to make sure they were okay.
“There are definitely challenges in today’s hospital environment, and it’s always a good thing to be reminded of why we are in this profession and to always make the patient the priority,” said Louise.
Claire said when she entered nursing, she wanted to help people, and studied at the school of nursing at UKZN.
“I am a research nurse, focusing on HIV/Aids. Our research will, hopefully, influence structures at international level, for new ways of doing things, that will filter down to how nurses practise.
“It’s important we keep learning and finding best practices, as things are very different from when my mom started in nursing. But one thing remains, that the patient must be treated with care.”