Nigerian nurses have been urged to shun obsolete practices and be dynamic in the discharge of their healthcare services to the people.
Presenting her welcome address at the 14th Annual Conference of Heads of Basic and Post-Basic Nursing Institutions In Nigeria (COHBPNIN) in Port Harcourt recently, the National Chairman, COHBPNIN, Mrs Aderonke Adetunji noted that modern day practices were evolving in every profession and stressed the need for the nursing profession to catch up with the joneses.
“We are currently in transition and have the twin peaks of communicable and non-communicable diseases. The nation looks up to us to solve its healthcare problems and this is serious business. Nurses are key to the healthcare industry thus, nursing education and practices must remain dynamic to meet the healthcare needs of the society,” she said.
Also speaking, the Director, Nursing Services, River State Ministry of Health, Mrs Elizabeth Sika said “the world is in motion and we Nigerian nurses and educators in nursing institutions and facilities cannot afford to lag behind. Nursing must be first choice if we indeed desire to make an enduring impact. There is a global practice in every profession. We must know what it is all about and key into it as far as nursing is concerned.”
Describing the year’s theme, ‘Sustaining Excellence In Nursing Education and Practice Through Research and Evidence Based Approach” as appropriate and timely, according to her, excellence comes as a result of passion driven by strong sense of hardwork and commitment to duty, adding that “it has become imperative for nurses to shun practices that would contribute to reduction in standards of the profession.”
“It is important for us to note that any career in which its practices do not pursue the values of excellence is doomed. The morality that guides the nursing profession must be protected always in the course of discharging our duties,” she said.
The director who noted that the health industry would be grossly incomplete without qualified nurses to work with other health professionals called on heads of nursing institutions in Nigeria to ensure their best in producing quality and passionate nursing workforce for the good of the nation and mankind in general.
Declaring the conference open, chairman of the occasion, Chief Adoage Norteh described nursing profession as a ‘giving’ profession, but regretted that nurses lacked equipment to discharge their duties effectively.
Norteh stressed the need for nurses to embrace modern development in the profession, urging participants to take advantage of the conference to update their knowledge.
Highlights of the opening ceremony include paper presentation, cultural dance among others.