Work hard to enhance professional image

THE Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of the Nurses and Midwives Council of Ghana, Ms Veronica Darko, has called on student nurses and midwives to work hard to enhance the image of the profession.
She said the general public had been complaining about the negative attitudes of nurses and midwives towards them, which tarnished the image of the profession.
She, therefore, advised the students to serve as the new generation of practitioners who would change the perception that members of the public had about the profession.
Ms Darko was speaking at the sixth diploma students and second clinical health assistants matriculation ceremony of the Western Hills School of Nursing (WHSN) at Ofankor.
She urged the matriculants to abide strictly by the core values of the Ghana Health Service when practising the profession.
They must be disciplined and perform their duties in a professional manner to help develop good relationships with their clients.
The Principal of the School, Mrs Ruth A. Gyang, advised the matriculants to remain focused and adopt a positive attitude towards the profession.
She described the nursing and midwifery profession as a challenge, and that nursing was a profession that gave the practitioner job satisfaction, which could be achieved when the practitioner had been able to assist patients in their time of need.
To be able to do this, she said the practitioner had to be honest, patient, tolerant and sympathetic, adding that this would also help the patient physically, emotionally and spiritually.
The Director of Nursing Services at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Mrs Grace Barnes, said the nursing and midwifery profession was not the best field for making money, yet the richness of the blessings that came with dedicated nursing could not be quantified.
She advised the students not to place their individual interests first when delivering their services but that of the profession.
One hundred and sixty students matriculated, out of which 30 are pursuing a three year diploma course in nursing and 130 pursuing a two-year certificate course as health assistants.