Nurses: And their role for effective care
AS of 31 December 2014, statistics from the South African Nursing Council (SANC) show that the majority of registered nurses as a workforce in the country are those between the ages of 50 and 59 years at 31%, closely followed by those between the ages of 40 and 49 years at 28%. Only 19% are between the ages 30 and 39 years. Those below the age of 30 make up a meagre 4%.
These statistics for a nursing population of mere 270 000 looking after an increasingly disease-burdened South African general population of 51 million are a cause for concern, according to the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA).
“This implies a high rate of retirement by nurses as they reach the age of 60 each year, while replacing them takes up to a year due to prolonged HR processes. As an organisation, DENOSA loses no less than 900 members each year due to retirement, which places huge burden on the remaining nurses at facilities, and this adds to the world’s shortage of health professionals of over 4-million.
“Such is the baggage and concern that nurses carry in the back of their minds as they celebrate International Nurses Day on 12 May this year, which is a commemoration of the birth of Florence Nightingale, the pioneer of modern-day nursing. ICN has become the custodian of this day, with this year’s theme: Nurses: A force for Change: Care Effective, Cost Effective,” says DENOSA.
DENOSA President, Simon Hlungwani, says as this year’s theme zooms into a nurse as a critical component of effective care, ICN makes it clear that it is essential that nurses and policy makers focus on the nursing role in care effective and cost effective healthcare system as a key priority in achieving better health for all.
“Locally, this is in the background of increasing cost of healthcare to unreachable levels for the majority of citizens. As a result, more than 84% of the country’s population relies on the country’s public healthcare, including those who had been on private healthcare during their working days as they cease to become members as soon as they retire,” explains Hlungwani.
“Meanwhile a meagre 15 % of the population is accommodated by private healthcare with almost equal the budget of the public healthcare. Such inequality and uneven spread of resources in public health facilities is something that as nurses we understand but we don’t have to let it stand in the way of caring for patients. But it is even more difficult and causes despondency when policies don’t address the actual challenges that nurses are faced with,” he adds.
In celebrating International Nurses Day, DENOSA pays tribute to the past trailblazers such as Mary Seacole, who was a Jamaican-born black woman of Scottish descent and a heroine who served selflessly in the Crimean War together with Florence Nightingale but received very little recognition for her great contribution to modern nursing.
“We also pay tribute to Cecilia Makiwane, a local hero and a first black registered nurse in South Africa,” says Hlungwani.
However, he says today, nurses face a plethora of challenges in the workplace, from staff shortages to an increasing burden of lifestyle-related diseases among citizens and dwindling appreciation and respect the profession once enjoyed from communities.
Hlungwani says going back to the basics in healthcare, starting from strengthening of primary healthcare, and ensuring adequate staffing levels at facilities with sufficient resources will go a long way in addressing the challenges that are seemingly getting out of hand.
“This is the call that Positive Practice Environment (PPE) campaign seeks to achieve, by urging policy-makers to include nurses in the decisions they make, because nurses are professionals in touch with patients and realities of health facilities 24 hours a day,” concludes Hlungwani.