| Danial Norjidi |
NURSES play a key role in any successful healthcare organisation, and need to be engaged and encouraged to be innovative to help further improve patient care.
These points were highlighted in a speech during a public lecture celebrating International Nurses Day 2016 yesterday at the Pengiran Anak Puteri Rashidah Sa’adatul Bolkiah Institute of Health Sciences (PAPRSB IHS), Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD).
The speech was delivered by Associate Professor Dr Anne Cunningham, the Deputy Dean (Research, Graduate Studies and Global Affairs) of the PAPRSB IHS, who attended as the guest of honour.
The public lecture itself was jointly organised by PAPRSB IHS and Brunei Darussalam Nurses Association (Penjuru) to celebrate International Nurses Day 2016.
Held at a lecture theatre in the PAPRSB IHS, the event saw the attendance of nursing and midwifery students, nurses and midwives from the Ministry of Health and Jerudong Park Medical Centre, Penjuru as well as health educators from the government and also non-government agencies.
In her speech, Associate Professor Dr Cunningham shared, “International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world every May 12.”
Dr Munikumar R Venkatasalu, Professor in Cancer and Palliative Care at Pengiran Anak Puteri Rashidah Sa’adatul Bolkiah Institute of Health Sciences, during his presentation
Associate Professor Dr Anne Cunningham, the Deputy Dean (Research, Graduate Studies and Global Af-fairs) of the PAPRSB IHS delivering her speech. – PHOTOS: DANIAL NORJIDI
“The date marks the anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth, the pioneer of modern nursing. Her first handwritten scripts are still models of best practice in evidence-based clinical practice,” she added.
“She also pioneered the use of applied statistics to develop policies and developed novel ways of displaying data.”
Associate Professor Dr Cunningham also noted that the statistical evidence from Nightingale’s mortality rates in civilian and military hospitals showed that unsanitary living conditions leading to endemic diseases such as typhus, typhoid and cholera were the principal reason for high mortality rates in the 19th century.
“Remembering her today emphasises the key role that nurses play in any successful 21st Century healthcare organisation,” she continued. “I hope this celebration will encourage you all to follow in her ambitious steps.”
Associate Professor Dr Cunningham emphasised that nurses need to advance the development of nursing knowledge and promote the integration of nursing philosophies, theories and research with practice by following Nightingale’s ambitious steps.
“To claim nursing’s rightful place in the development of health knowledge, nurses need to be engaged and encouraged to be innovative, and develop cutting edge ideas that challenge prior assumptions and that present new intellectually challenging perspectives to improve patient care,” she added.
The International Nurses Council’s theme for 2016 is ‘Nurses: A Force for Change: Improving Health Systems’ Resilience’.
This theme was reflected in yesterday’s public talk, which was titled, ‘Innovations in Nursing Practice: Possibilities and Pitfalls’ and was delivered by Professor Dr Munikumar R Venkatasalu, Professor in Cancer and Palliative Care at PAPRSB IHS.
In his presentation, Dr Munikumar spoke on the concept of innovation in nursing practices, explaining the opportunities for innovations in everyday nursing, providing examples of such innovations and their impact on the quality of care.
At the end of the lecture, attendees were given the opportunity to pose questions, with Dr Munikumar on hand to answer their queries.
The PAPRSB IHS has expanded its focus beyond solely medical training to include Public Health, Biomedical Sciences, Nursing, Midwifery and Pharmacy.
PAPRSB IHS actively organises research initiatives, workshops and conferences on healthcare to provide students with early clinical and laboratory exposure in order to attain greater experience in the core clinical, biomedical and scientific disciplines. Such activities are aimed at instilling greater inter-professional teamwork and communication skills.
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