Opinion / Columnist
Cry the beloved Zimbabwe, our nurses have lost the passion to serve, at your pocket's service
05 Sep 2017 at 14:44hrs | Views
Nurses have a professional duty to respect patients' dignity. But a visit in our hospitals back home is a chilling experience. Where starting from the door the security guards treat relatives of patients as criminals. You will be humiliated embarrassed and dehumanised. The compassionate atmosphere of hospital is turned to a prison or a war zone. Diasporas shudder to get sick in Zimbabwe. Those in the country wish to run away. The situation is not due to the decay of our health system. It is mostly the attitude of the health staff to their work. Nurses and doctors are now money oriented and in money they heal.
Incidents of verbal and physical patient abuse in health care settings continue to occur, in the maternity ward beating up of patients is a norm and seems to be highly accepted. Nurses have a professional and ethical responsibility to advocate for their patients when incidents of abuse occur. But in some wards they team up against their patients. They make you feel that its your fault to get sick. Nursing as we know it has lost meaning. Tolerating or ignoring inappropriate behaviors occurs for multiple reasons, including ignorance, fear of retaliation, the need for peer acceptance, and concerns for personal advancement. Nurses need to reflect on their biases before they can truly respect patients' autonomy. There is a serious need for a change in hospital culture and abusive nature of our hospitals. The primary steps in eliminating patient abuse are opening communication, providing education, establishing competency, eliminating tolerance of unacceptable behavior, and creating a code of mutual respect. A change in culture to one of mutual respect and dignity for staff members and patients will lead to the best outcomes for all involved.
But the situation on the ground is indeed appalling nurses play God with the lives of the patients. It does not matter whether its a public hospital or private hospital. The treatment is not only bad for diaspora but mot of the sick. Simple respect is glaringly absent.
Patient's dignity is a thing of the past. Patients no longer feel comfortable, sin control and valued), physical presentation and behaviour. The environment, staff behaviour and patient factors impacted on patient dignity. Lack of environmental privacy threatened dignity. A conducive physical environment, dignity-promoting culture and other patients' support promoted dignity. Staff being curt, authoritarian and breaching privacy threatened dignity. Staff promoted dignity by providing privacy and interactions which made patients feel comfortable, in control and valued. Patients' impaired health and older age rendered them vulnerable to a loss of dignity. patients no longer retain ability and control they are made to feel inferior.
Patients are vulnerable to loss of dignity in hospital. Staff behaviour and the hospital environment can influence whether patients' dignity is lost or upheld.
A prominent Doctor was left grey faced after her dying 88-year-old mother was allegedly abused by nurses who threatened to hit her and then slapped and "knuckled" her on the head for screaming in pain. She was called names asked why she can not die. Nurses literally refused to assist her.
No one is determined to highlight the alleged abuse to "get caring back in the nursing profession" and to prevent other patients from suffering the same plight.
Gogo Matika 88, an Alzheimer patient with lucid moments, was admitted on her deathbed to the hands of angry and pompous nurses. They refused ton attend to her because she was making noise. One nurse had to knuckle her head to subdue her screams. She died two days later.
Mr Magaya (true name) When his mother was admitted, she had been very weak, had vomited and her stomach appeared distended. She was frightened and " I knew that, due to her condition, she would need someone with her all the time," Magaya said. Her mother's caregiver, who asked to remain anonymous, stayed with her in the hospital at night and witnessed the alleged abuse.
"The caregiver was quite distressed as she said that on the night when two nurses came to attend to his mother they were very rough with her. Mom, who had a catheter and a drip, must have lashed out at the one nurse as she was frightened and was actually on her deathbed. The nurse, then slapped my frail, 88-year-old mother"
"The nurse hit (her) on the arm and then knuckled her a couple of times on the top of the head. She told (the caregiver) that that was what she needed to do to patients so that the family would not see marks on the patient's head because hair covers the head," Magaya said.
The nurses also apparently tied her mother's hands to the bed but the caregiver advised them to untie her when the family arrived.
The hospital Magaya sent his mother is a private hospital where the fees are by no means cheap, therefore one would expect top class nursing service and care. This is contrary to what the public is paying for. And in my opinion, the many so-called nurses attending to the sick do not have the compassion to be in the profession," Magaya said.
There are several incidents of poor nursing services experienced by many Zimbabweans In one incident a patient was almost burned after she was offered cooked oats in a drinking cup. It had been poured into the cup from an urn and was burning hot.
In another circumstance a nurse treating a child was so snappy and intimidating and the child would quiver in fear of this ghost in white. What happened to courtesy.
"My sister and I were just outside the room when we heard a loud "clang" and a pitiful (cry) from my mother's mouth. The nurse had dropped her bed so suddenly, she was obviously hurt," one relative complained. When she enquired of what had happened she was told to nursing if she wants to see how it works.
Another lady alleged she had to alert nurses to change her mother's drip and her medical chart had not been accurately completed. But she was told off and escorted off the ward. When she came back her mother was bruised. The treatment of patients is giving our health system a bad name and indeed soiling the honest laddies in white. Sometimes you feel that the nurses must be in red to show that there is danger in the hospital.
That helping compassionate profession has been overtaken by greedy cruel stubborn money hunters in white.
Yes we do agree that nurses are innocent until proven guilty, but the allegations are extremely serious. Our health managers must subscribe to the values of care, truth, passion, dignity and participation. As an institution it must exist to care for patients when they are at their most vulnerable. Elderly patients and young children in particular should feel nurtured and safe in the care of our nurses.
Most people are afraid to complain. But surely the devil must not dawn white let him be in red.
Vazet2000@yahoo.co.uk
Incidents of verbal and physical patient abuse in health care settings continue to occur, in the maternity ward beating up of patients is a norm and seems to be highly accepted. Nurses have a professional and ethical responsibility to advocate for their patients when incidents of abuse occur. But in some wards they team up against their patients. They make you feel that its your fault to get sick. Nursing as we know it has lost meaning. Tolerating or ignoring inappropriate behaviors occurs for multiple reasons, including ignorance, fear of retaliation, the need for peer acceptance, and concerns for personal advancement. Nurses need to reflect on their biases before they can truly respect patients' autonomy. There is a serious need for a change in hospital culture and abusive nature of our hospitals. The primary steps in eliminating patient abuse are opening communication, providing education, establishing competency, eliminating tolerance of unacceptable behavior, and creating a code of mutual respect. A change in culture to one of mutual respect and dignity for staff members and patients will lead to the best outcomes for all involved.
But the situation on the ground is indeed appalling nurses play God with the lives of the patients. It does not matter whether its a public hospital or private hospital. The treatment is not only bad for diaspora but mot of the sick. Simple respect is glaringly absent.
Patient's dignity is a thing of the past. Patients no longer feel comfortable, sin control and valued), physical presentation and behaviour. The environment, staff behaviour and patient factors impacted on patient dignity. Lack of environmental privacy threatened dignity. A conducive physical environment, dignity-promoting culture and other patients' support promoted dignity. Staff being curt, authoritarian and breaching privacy threatened dignity. Staff promoted dignity by providing privacy and interactions which made patients feel comfortable, in control and valued. Patients' impaired health and older age rendered them vulnerable to a loss of dignity. patients no longer retain ability and control they are made to feel inferior.
Patients are vulnerable to loss of dignity in hospital. Staff behaviour and the hospital environment can influence whether patients' dignity is lost or upheld.
A prominent Doctor was left grey faced after her dying 88-year-old mother was allegedly abused by nurses who threatened to hit her and then slapped and "knuckled" her on the head for screaming in pain. She was called names asked why she can not die. Nurses literally refused to assist her.
No one is determined to highlight the alleged abuse to "get caring back in the nursing profession" and to prevent other patients from suffering the same plight.
Gogo Matika 88, an Alzheimer patient with lucid moments, was admitted on her deathbed to the hands of angry and pompous nurses. They refused ton attend to her because she was making noise. One nurse had to knuckle her head to subdue her screams. She died two days later.
Mr Magaya (true name) When his mother was admitted, she had been very weak, had vomited and her stomach appeared distended. She was frightened and " I knew that, due to her condition, she would need someone with her all the time," Magaya said. Her mother's caregiver, who asked to remain anonymous, stayed with her in the hospital at night and witnessed the alleged abuse.
"The caregiver was quite distressed as she said that on the night when two nurses came to attend to his mother they were very rough with her. Mom, who had a catheter and a drip, must have lashed out at the one nurse as she was frightened and was actually on her deathbed. The nurse, then slapped my frail, 88-year-old mother"
The nurses also apparently tied her mother's hands to the bed but the caregiver advised them to untie her when the family arrived.
The hospital Magaya sent his mother is a private hospital where the fees are by no means cheap, therefore one would expect top class nursing service and care. This is contrary to what the public is paying for. And in my opinion, the many so-called nurses attending to the sick do not have the compassion to be in the profession," Magaya said.
There are several incidents of poor nursing services experienced by many Zimbabweans In one incident a patient was almost burned after she was offered cooked oats in a drinking cup. It had been poured into the cup from an urn and was burning hot.
In another circumstance a nurse treating a child was so snappy and intimidating and the child would quiver in fear of this ghost in white. What happened to courtesy.
"My sister and I were just outside the room when we heard a loud "clang" and a pitiful (cry) from my mother's mouth. The nurse had dropped her bed so suddenly, she was obviously hurt," one relative complained. When she enquired of what had happened she was told to nursing if she wants to see how it works.
Another lady alleged she had to alert nurses to change her mother's drip and her medical chart had not been accurately completed. But she was told off and escorted off the ward. When she came back her mother was bruised. The treatment of patients is giving our health system a bad name and indeed soiling the honest laddies in white. Sometimes you feel that the nurses must be in red to show that there is danger in the hospital.
That helping compassionate profession has been overtaken by greedy cruel stubborn money hunters in white.
Yes we do agree that nurses are innocent until proven guilty, but the allegations are extremely serious. Our health managers must subscribe to the values of care, truth, passion, dignity and participation. As an institution it must exist to care for patients when they are at their most vulnerable. Elderly patients and young children in particular should feel nurtured and safe in the care of our nurses.
Most people are afraid to complain. But surely the devil must not dawn white let him be in red.
Vazet2000@yahoo.co.uk
Source - Dr Masimba Mavaza
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