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THE INTERNATIONAL NURSES’ DAY CELEBRATION

THE INTERNATIONAL NURSES’ DAY CELEBRATION

The Durban University of Technology (DUT) celebrated the International Nurses’ Day and the theme for 2022 was, Nurses: A Voice to Lead – Invest in Nursing and Respect Rights to Secure Global Health. This is an annual event in commemoration of Florence Nightingale’s birthday, the founder of the nursing profession who dedicated her whole life to the improvement of Nursing. This prestigious hybrid event was held at the DUT Hotel School, Ritson campus on Thursday, 12 May 2022.

The event was also used to honour nurses who passed on during the COVID-19 pandemic, those who are disabled by the pandemic and those who are still in the cold face of the pandemic, dedicating their lives in the nursing profession. Dr and Pastor G. Pillay from Ampath Laboratories delivered a solemn yet spiritually motivating sermon to pay respect to nurses who lost their lives due to COVID-19 pandemic.

This year’s event was particularly important for nurses since they were unable to meet face to face for the past two years, to celebrate this auspicious occasion due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s event was held physically and also virtually, to accommodate international guests and those who stay far away from the DUT since the event was held from 15h00 to 17h00.

The Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, Professor Gugu Mchunu welcomed guests and introduced Professor Nokuthula Sibiya, DUT’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning who was a lead guest speaker. Other speakers were from different universities namely; Dr Sipho Mkhize from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Dr Sandile Tshabalala, Head of KZN Department of Health, Mr Ngcebo Mkhize a Professional Nurse from DUT’s Isolempilo Campus Health Clinic, a postgraduate student and an alumni of the DUT, Ms Elina Ketunnen from Metropolia University in Finland and Professor Jane Kerr from the University of Zululand.

The programme directors were Dr Dudu Sokhela, Lecturer in the Department of Nursing at DUT’s Ritson campus and Ms Nompumelelo Xaba from Indumiso Campus.

Dr Sokhela indicated that the event was held to pay respect to the heroes, nurses who work tirelessly and devote their time to work even when they are tired, scared, stressed, and when they feel like they cannot go on anymore.

“Globally, socially dedicated health care workers, nurses specifically have lost their lives fighting with these invisible enemies, the COVID-19 and other diseases. However, they remain committed and they still work tirelessly, and remain committed day and night. They participate in all other initiatives such as the Nursing Now Initiative which is a collaboration between ICL and the WHO. Nurses play a crucial role in health promotion, disease prevention, and treatment of diseases,” said DUT’s Dr Nomusa Zikalala, who opened in prayer.

Delivering the keynote address, DUT’s Prof Sibiya said: “Nursing has been described as one of the most stressful professions, considering the exposure to emotional demand from the patients, nursing environments, prolonged working hours, and conflicts with multiple disciplinary teams, interpersonal conflicts and trauma experiences such as encountering frequent death situations that place a strain on a nurse. Confronting emergencies and working in under resourced areas can lead nurses to experiencing penalty and can drastically impact on their psycho social well-being”.

She added that nurses are heroes as they sacrifice not only themselves, but their families for the well-being of others.

One of the guest speakers, Dr Mkhize from UKZN said: “I would like to thank DUT as our neighbour for inviting us to celebrate this day with them, it is highly appreciated. As we are looking at nurses today, we are just having that enjoyment of a highest attainable standard of health, which is of the fundamental human right of every political, social and economical conditions. It is fundamental to attainment of peace, security and it is dependent on the fullest cooperation of individuals as well as states.”

In addition, Dr Mkhize said a nurse is the center to ensure universal health coverage and therefore, no nurse is equal to no care. He encouraged the nurses to not only render care but become more active and vocal in policy development and policy implementation.

“When you invest in nursing it means that you are looking for a workforce that can restore, transform, and strengthen the health system to ensure health equity. By investing in nursing and respecting rights we can build a stronger and more resilient, committed, satisfied nursing workforce to meet the challenges ahead. If we invest in nursing, we are not only looking at the care that is going to take place but it is about preparing the people that are going to execute the duties as nurses. So our investment starts from when we recruit, grow our own timber, when we have people that are already qualified for basic programmes we need to make sure that we capacitate them, they get to learn more, get exposed to different kinds of learning so that they are always sharp in their approach and the things that they do,” he said.

A nursing professional at DUT’s Isolempilo Campus Health Clinic and an alumni of the DUT, Mkhize expressed that nursing education and training is adapting to changing health and health care needs, innovation, priorities and expectations. He said through research nurses gain knowledge, skills and behaviours required to overcome current and future challenges.

“As a practitioner, nurse, educator, leader and as a researcher, I believe that nurses provide high and complex health care based on available evidence and technology. Education able nurses to give support, high quality care in rapid changing environment and different diseases. Nurses must be prepared to contribute on the development and the implementation of solution to world challenges,” said Dr Mkhize.

Prof Kerr from the University of Zululand gave a brief insight on the importance of investing in the nursing profession.

“Investing in nursing means we need to provide or endow nurses or nursing students with particular quality or attribute. Investing in nurses means we also need to put resources to people in our profession, and increase the value of those people and our profession. The act of investing is where the answers should be, so how do we invest in nursing and in my opinion is through the mentioned basics. As a nurse, in whatever role and field we find ourselves, we need to invest time, energy, commitment and money on ensuring we live up to and develop nurses who practice in any setting, as practitioners described. Personally, and professionally, this can be a challenge, in current circumstances,” explained Prof Kerr.

Addressing the guests online all the way from Finland was Ms Ketunnen from the Metropolia University of Applied Sciences.

“Metropolia University of Applied Sciences is the largest university of Applied Science in Finland. The University educates the professionals of tomorrow in the fields of culture, business, health care and social services and technology. Metropolia University offers 69 degree programmes, eleven of them are taught in English. In Finland, University of Applied Sciences have autonomy in the planning, implementation and evaluation of teaching, and therefore the content of Nursing education varies between University of Applied Sciences. Nursing education has developed a great deal in recent years. We have payed attention to the evaluation of a nurse’s professional competence in Finland,” noted Ms Ketunnen.

Pictured: Guests during the International Nurse’s Day celebration.

Nomvelo Zulu

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