May 12, 2006	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 13, 1427

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LAHORE, May 11: As nursing continues to be considered one of the most under-paid and thankless jobs, those in the profession are observing the International Nursing Day based on a theme “Safe staffing saves lives” on Friday (today).

This year, the International Council of Nurses is focusing on the safety of nurses while serving patients in the general and specialised wards. The day is being observed to create awareness that the nurses should take all precautionary measures and destroy used disposable syringes and glucose bags.

A prick of a syringe used on a hepatitis or HIV/AIDS patient can be fatal for the attending nurse.

Although the Punjab health department is making efforts to upgrade the profession, the nurses feel that they are overloaded with work. They say in Pakistan they are required to take care of patients much more than the internationally-followed patient-nurse ratio.

According to international standards, they say, three nurses are required to attend 10 general beds in three eight-hour shifts in a day, while another nurse is supposed to act as a reliever if any one of those on duty is supposed to take leave. But in Pakistan, they say, each nurse is supposed to take care of 25 to 30 beds.

The nurses also say they are bound to do 12-hour night duty for one month on a rotation basis, which causes a lot of problems for them.

Speaking to Dawn, Lahore General Hospital nursing school principal Ishrat Ishaq said the strength of nurses in the hospitals was quite low compared to the growing number of patients. According to estimates, she said, each nurse was serving 25 patients in the country.

She said the patient-nurse ratio had become ‘unrealistic’ here because the patient load had increased manifold in the hospitals owing to population explosion. She said the government had not created nurses’ posts to meet the patient load and worse still, the autonomous hospitals’ managements had recruited nurses on a contract.

She said the nurses serving on a contract usually left the job when they found a better option either in private hospitals or abroad. In the LGH, Ms Ishaq said, there was no shortage of nurses on sanctioned posts, on a contract as well as student nurses. Still, she said, the patient-nurse ratio in the hospital was unrealistic and nurses were overworked.

It is learnt that 250 sanctioned posts of nurses are lying vacant in hospitals across Punjab.

Meanwhile, the LGH nursing school organised a seminar in connection with the International Nurses Day at the hospital auditorium on Thursday.

PGMI/LGH principal Prof Sajjad Husain said the role of nursing had become highly significant for the proper treatment of patients. He said the Punjab government was upgrading the nursing profession by offering better grades and salaries under the Health Sector Reforms Programme. Consequently, the nurses were offering better services to patients.

The nurses were serving the patients in hospitals round-the-clock and their role in selfless service to the victims of the Oct 8 earthquake in northern areas of Pakistan was laudable, he said.

Referring to the theme of the International Nurses Day, Prof Husain stressed that the nurses should take all safety measures and destroy disposable syringes and glucose bottles. The safe nursing practices, he said, would help reduce the burden of deadly diseases like hepatitis, HIV and AIDS, etc.

Prof Husain also stressed that the nurses should continue seeking higher education to keep themselves abreast of the latest research and technology. He said the hospital’s nursing school library was being updated with the latest books.

Emphasising the importance of nurses in medical care, he said the Punjab government had already given BPS-16 to the nurses who were previously holding the BPS-14. Similarly, he said, the head nurses’ grade had been upgraded from BPS-16 to BPS-17. He said the grade improvement would help resolve nurses’ financial problems.

The government’s reforms in the health sectors were attracting more and more young girls to join the nursing profession, he said.

LGH nursing school principal Ms Ishrat Ishaq said the strength of nurses in hospitals was quite low compared to the patients’ load. She, however, stressed that the nurses must give full attention while administering injections to protect themselves as well as the patient from any unwanted prick.

Nursing superintendent Naseem Das stressed that the nurses should idealise Florence Nightingale and develop a mindset to serve and sacrifice for others. A large number of nurses attended the seminar.

Meanwhile, the Fatima Memorial Hospital is organising a one-day seminar on “Safe staffing and health workforce issue in Pakistan” in connection with the nurses day. The Punjab governor’s wife, Rubina Khalid, is expected to be the chief guest on the occasion.