Accelerating Change and Transformation via political will and direction : the role of professional organization. By Comrade Samuel Olumide Faniran, Chairman Osun State NANNM.
The Osun State NANNM Chairman : Comrade Samuel Olumide Faniran delivered a keynote address on "Accelerating Change and transformation via political will and direction : The role of professional organization " at the Annual Nurses Week Conference of NUNSA LAUTECH CHAPTER. The event also doubled as the valedictory service for the newly inducted graduate nurse. Below is the excerpt of the chairman address.
‘ACCELERATING CHANGE AND TRANSFORMATION VIA POLITICAL WILL AND DIRECTION: THE ROLE OF PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATION’ BEING A PAPER PRESENTED BY COMRADE SAMUEL OLUMIDE FANIRAN, OSUN STATE NANNM CHAIRMAN, AT THE ANNUAL NURSES WEEK CONFERENCE OF NUNSA, LAUTECH CHAPTER TODAY, MONDAY 26TH MAY, 2017 AT 600 SEATER HALL LAUTECH, ISALE OSUN, OSOGBO.
PROTOCOLS!
I feel highly honoured and privileged to be invited to deliver a paper at an important programme of this nature. Nurses week is an annual event being celebrated globally in honour and commemoration of the mother of modern Nursing- Florence Nightingale. It gives me joy to associate myself and the association with our professional colleagues and the Nursing students of this citadel of academic excellence, for not being left out of this year’s celebration. I therefore bring felicitations from all Osun Nurses and Midwives.
The topic given to me -Accelerating change and transformation via political will and direction: the role of professional organization- is strategic and very timely especially at this crucial period in the life of our profession when almost every progressive move is being accompanied by counter and retrogressive reactions by different groups and individuals, within the profession. But before we go into the nitty-gritty of the topic, it becomes highly imperative that we define some of the key words emanating from the topic.
Accelerating: Accelerating according to Longman dictionary implies making something happens more or more quickly
Change: This simply means to become different or to make something become different. It can also implies to stop doing or using one thing, and start doing or using something else instead.
Transformation: A complete change in someone or something.
Via: Through
Politics: Longman dictionary defines politics as the ideas and activities relating to gaining and using power in a country.
Direction: Direction, according to the dictionary means the way something or someone moves, faces or is aimed.
Role: The way in which someone or something is involved in an activity or situation, and how much influence they have on it.
Professional: This can simply be defined according to Longman dictionary as that relating to a job that needs special education and training.
Organization: Organization is a group of people, companies or countries, which is set up for a particular purpose.
Nursing and Nurses:
Nursing, as an integral part of the health care system, encompasses the promotion of health, prevention of illness, and care of physically ill, mentally ill, and disabled people of all ages, in all health care and other community settings. Within this broad spectrum of health care, the phenomena of particular concern to nurses are individual, family, and group "responses to actual or potential health problems". These human responses range broadly from health restoring reactions to an individual episode of illness to the development of policy in promoting the long-term health of a population.
The unique function of nurses in caring for individuals, sick or well, is to assess their responses to their health status and to assist them in the performance of those activities contributing to health or recovery or to dignified death that they would perform unaided if they had the necessary strength, will, or knowledge and to do this in such a way as to help them gain full or partial independence as rapidly as possible (Henderson, 1977, p.4). Within the total health care environment, nurses share with other health professionals and those in other sectors of public service the functions of planning, implementation, and evaluation to ensure the adequacy of the health system for promoting health, preventing illness, and caring for ill and disabled people.
NURSING AND ITS VARIOUS TRANSFORMATIONS SO FAR:
Nursing Education:
Nursing education consists of the theoretical and practical training provided to nurses with the purpose of preparing them for their duties as nursing care professionals. This education is provided to nursing students by experienced nurses and other medical professionals who are qualified or experienced for educational tasks. Most countries offer nurse education courses that can be relevant to general nursing or to specialized areas including mental health nursing, pediatric nursing and post-operatory nursing. Courses leading to autonomous registration as a nurse typically last three years. Nurse education also provides post-qualification courses in specialist subjects within nursing.
Historical background:
During past decades, the changes in education have replaced the more practically focused, but often ritualistic, training structure of conventional preparation. Nurse education integrates today a broader awareness of other disciplines allied to medicine, often involving inter-professional education, and the utilization of research when making clinical and managerial decisions. Orthodox training can be argued to have offered a more intense practical skills base, but emphasized the handmaiden relationship with the physician. This is now outmoded, and the impact of nurse education is to develop a confident, inquiring graduate who contributes to the care team as an equal. In some countries, not all qualification courses have graduate status.
Traditionally, from the times prior to Florence Nightingale , nursing was seen as an apprenticeship, often undertaken in religious institutes such as convents by young women, although there has always been a proportion of male nurses, especially in mental health services. In 1860 Nightingale set up the first nurse training school at St Thomas' Hospital, London. Nightingale's curriculum was largely based around nursing practice, with instruction focused upon the need for hygiene and task competence. Her methods are reflected in her Notes on Nursing, (1898).
Some other nurses at that time, notably Ethel Gordon Fenwick , were in favor of formalized nursing registration and curricula that were formally based in higher education and not within the confines of hospitals.
Nursing qualifications:
There are multiple entry levels into nursing. This has led to confusion for the public, as well as other healthcare professionals. The earliest schools of nursing offered a Diploma in Nursing and not an actual academic degree. Community colleges began offering an Associate of Science in Nursing degree, and some diploma programs switched to this model.
Universities then began to offer Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Bachelor of Nursing degrees, followed by Master of Science in Nursing degrees, and Doctor of Nursing Practice degrees.
The emergence of professionalism in nursing education:
Nurses, according to the ICN Code of Ethics as reviewed in 2005, have four fundamental responsibilities: to promote health, to prevent illness, to restore health and to alleviate suffering. The need for nursing is universal. Inherent in nursing is respect for human rights, including cultural rights, the right to life and choice, to dignity and to be treated with respect. Nursing care is respectful of and unrestricted by considerations of age, colour, creed, culture, disability or illness, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, politics, race or social status. Nurses render health services to the individual, the family and the community and coordinate their services with those of related groups. Before 1981, nursing was adjudged a vocation in Nigeria, but by virtue of the Industrial Arbitration Panel (IAP) award of 1981, nursing got the recognition of a full-fledged profession. Arising from that pronouncement, the association has been working with the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria, to take nursing to the highest pedestral of professionalism, and one of the ways is through nursing education reforms.
History of Nursing in Nigeria:
The detailed history of a profession that combines scientific principles, technical skills and personal comparison can not be precisely relayed, but records hold that Nursing came to limelight in 1854 when the Mother of Professional Nursing, Florence Nightingale started the battlefield with other 38 nurses and cared for the sick and injured men during the Crimean war in England. Her persistence dedicated service, day and night, experiences paid off by making her famous and recognized by lady with the lamp. Her metric service resulted in complete change in Nursing profession and lead to the beginning of professional nursing. Though, Nursing in the early days was primarily a family matter with mothers caring for their own families or neighbors assisting each other.
Though, nursing came to Nigeria through the British Colonial masters. They provided services and medical care for wounded soldiers at the furtherworth Hospital. Later the first nursing home in Nigeria in Jericho, Ibadan by the government of the British Colonial masters.
Later on, missionaries and their wives came to supplement government effort by setting up Mission homes, Dispensaries e.t.c. and commence the training of Nurses in Nigeria, though language barrier there was no formal training but on the Job acquisition skills and practical aspect are been rendered by nursing surgery.
The regional government in Nigeria began the training of nurses by setting individual regional standard. In 1949, the School of Nursing, Eleyele was established to facilitate the training of nurses, later in 1952, the University College Hospital Ibadan started the training of nurses in a higher standard. In 1949, the Nursing Council of Nigeria was established to complement the efforts of the various training bodies and creating standards for Nurses.
By 1965, a department of Nursing was established in the University of Ibadan to commence a degree programme in Nigeria. Later on, University of Ife(now Obafemi Awolowo University) and University of Nigeria, Enugu also started degree in 1973. At present all the states of Nigeria has one or more School of Nursing, Midwifery and kinds of Post Basic schools. More degree awarding institutions had been granted the license to produce degree holder in Nursing. Among them are Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; University of Calabar, Calabar; Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso. Also private Universities such as, Babcock University, Ilisan Remo; Leadcity University; Madonna University among others started degree in Nursing. Very recently, Nursing made another milestone as it concluded all arrangements to make its Schools of Nursing Higher National Diploma(HND) awarding institutions as a means of finding a lasting solution to the academic qualification challenge.
Today, several opportunities are opened for Nurses to advance their education to whatever level they intend to, to the extent that we now have many professors in Nursing.
NANNM AS A PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATION:
Professional organizations and associations in nursing are critical for generating the energy, flow of ideas, and proactive work needed to maintain a healthy profession that advocates for the needs of its clients and nurses, and the trust of society.
In Nigeria, just like in the developed countries of the world, there are several professional organizations in Nursing. Among these are the National Association of Nurse Anaesthetists(NANA), National Association of Perioperative Nurses (NAPON), Association of Orthopaedic Nurses, Nurse Educators, Public Health Nurses, Psychiatric Nurses etc and NANNM. All these specialist organizations have their responsibilities which centred on moving Nursing forward as far as their specialty is concerned. But the umbrella body of all Nurses and Midwives in the country is the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM). NANNM is both a trade union as well as a professional association which represents the interest of all Nurses irrespective of certificate or specialty. NANNM has these philosophies as enshrined in the article III of its constitution:
-The National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives believes in activities which will bring about positive changes required in making nursing profession more responsive to health need of individuals, families and communities. It is the belief of the Association that the broad interest of its members should be protected and well represented before contemporary professions, employers and the public at large.
-The association believes in continuing education of the nurse and nursing research as a major way of attaining perfection in nursing practice.
-The association believes in ion and understanding among its members and other working class promoting unity, cooperation and understanding among its members and other working class organizations generally.
Going through all the aims and objectives of NANNM, it could be summarized that same centred at taking the profession to enviable position.
Who then is NANNM? This question is very germane considering several acquisitions from different corner against NANNM. It has worsened to the extent that hardly could there be any progressive move by NANNM that would not be objected to by some set/group of people. Article IV of NANNM constitution states that- membership of the association shall be opened to all Nurses and midwives registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria, employed in the services of the Federal, State , Local government, and/ or any other institution / establishment whether private or public. So, if NANNM which is the only recognized professional association for Nurses nationally is being seeing as not performing, the implication is that all of us are not performing. All of us are NANNM members. We are all at liberty to choose anyone among us for elective positions during elections. And NANNM is so planned in such a way that it gives every Nurse a equal chance to participate in the running of the association from the unit levels, state council and to the national level. The type of leadership we elected to man our association dictates what the output would be. Hence, to accelerate the change and transformations in Nursing, it requires our collective efforts whether you are the leader or the led. We are all major stakeholders. Permit me to use the opportunity afforded me by this programme to appreciate the giant strides the present crop of people at NANNM affairs are making recently. But the fact remains, we all need to be involved rather than stay somewhere and be criticizing destructively. Our constructive criticism will go a long way in accelerating the required transformations.
Nurses and Politics: You Can Make a Difference
“The very elements of what constitutes good nursing are as little understood for the well as for the sick. The same laws of health or of nursing, for they are in reality the same, obtain among the well as among the sick. The breaking of them produces only a less violent consequence among the former than among the latter, and this sometimes, not always.” - Florence Nightingale.
The insights of Nightingale continue to be amazingly applicable to today’s health care issues. The past, present, and future of health care and nursing have several spheres of influence, including government, public policy, and workplace. The word “politics” often evokes negative emotions based upon what may be happening on a federal or state governmental level.
Partisanship and well-publicized divisions between political parties and even individual government officials can cause us to shy away from becoming involved in the political arena. The fact remains however, that what these individuals do in their roles can directly impact what we do in ours, and even the good of the society as a whole. Take a step back and ask, "Is it acceptable to ignore politics, especially in times of recent and pending health care reform legislation?" Shouldn’t we be as informed as possible with regards to what’s going on out there beyond our own workplace?
Nurses can be involved and make a difference in the political process in a variety of ways. We can impact our profession by paying attention to legislation that is introduced and by contacting our elected representatives to voice our opinions, whether they are positive or negative. Technology has made this process convenient via the use of the Internet and E-mail. Membership in professional organizations is another way to make an impact in the political arena. The old adage that there is strength in numbers is true in many cases. Those who make laws have power, but so do we. Sometimes we forget that.
We have made great strides in recent years in terms of political activism. I suspect that Nightingale would still say that we have more to do. What we do in the political arena potentially impacts all patients, those who need immediate attention and those who do not but may need it at another time. As the quote above implies, the rules and laws should need to apply to protect everyone. Isn’t that what being a true patient advocate is all about?
Nurses' Political Involvement: the Challenges/Responsibilities
Nursing apathy toward participation in the political process is pandemic. Never more so than today has the profession needed a strong united stand within the political arena. Political involvement encompasses being knowledgeable about issues, laws, and health policy.
Barriers to political activism are thought to encompass several spectra including:
Heavy workloads
Feelings of powerlessness
Time constraints
Disunity
Sex issues, and
Lack of understanding of a complex political process.
The implementation of a political role for a nurse is based on three levels of commitment including:
Survival
Success, and
Significance.
Survival includes individual involvement within communities. Success accepts challenges in addressing injustices especially within the health-care arena. Significant involvement uses visionary nurses toward the betterment of the nurse profession.
As patient advocates, nurses cannot continue to be spectators in the political arena.
Getting involved in policy and politics
As direct caregivers, nurses spend more time with patients than healthcare providers in most other disciplines. So decision makers need to hear from nurses. If we don't stand up for the issues that are important to us, those with competing interests in healthcare may be the only ones whose voices are heard.
By knowing how the system works and which strategies can effectively influence policy, any nurse can become an advocate at the local, state, or federal level. You can make phone calls to elected representatives about bills under consideration, testify before committees, become involved in practice councils or boards at the workplace, and even run for elected office.
Nursing organizations with legislative departments provide analysis on current issues in health policy and tips on how to communicate with legislators. Many also offer workshops on nursing advocacy, or legislative days at the state house, both excellent places to begin an advocacy career. You also could form a mentor relationship with an experienced nurse advocate, or seek formal education on health policy or public health. An internship with your local or state representative to work on health-related legislation helps you understand how the system works and gain networking contacts.
Strategies for involvement include:
Political awareness
Incorporation of course/program expectations on both undergraduate and post~graduate levels
Teamwork.
Evidence-based practice is the gold standard for what we do. Evidence is also needed for nursing advocacy/politics. Through research, gather a good base of evidence to present to decision makers about the changes you want to see. Be aware of limitations in studies you're presenting because other interest groups may try to find flaws in the evidence.
Don't underestimate the power of personal experiences. Speaking to decision makers about personal stories puts a face and a story to an issue. Politicians also want to hear how legislative issues would affect their constituents.
Use your local and state resources or national nursing advocacy groups to gain an understanding of current issues and learn how you can become involved. Many specialty nursing organizations have policy experts available as resources to beginning nurse advocates. They can help with preparing written or oral statements for hearings and may accompany nurses to hearings at the local, state house or even at Aso Rock .
You can make phone calls to elected representatives about bills under consideration, testify before committees, become involved in practice councils or boards at the workplace, and even run for elected office.
Network with other nurses to create a unified voice. Equally important, form a good working relationship with your elected representatives and their staff by first building
credibility with them. Working with your elected representatives on smaller nursing issues related to your experience builds credibility so they'll be more likely to turn to you when they're looking for resources for larger nursing issues. So, it is high time we put an end to unnecessary divisions among ourselves either on the basis of certificate we possess, ethnicity, religion etc so that we can have a common voice, and hence same can be heard.
Do you really want someone who isn't a nurse (or who isn't getting input from a nurse) deciding how nurses do their jobs? Nurses need to have their voices heard! Not everyone can become a full-time nurse advocate, but with even a small time commitment, it's easy to become involved.
Why Nurses Need to be Politically Active
It is a great thing to be able to participate in a general election. There are fragile democracies around the world, where people are fighting to have political rights. Many people have devoted their lives to the support of these rights, and I think we do them a great disservice if we take our democratic power for granted.
I also believe that voting and political engagement DO make a difference. If we look to the Greek meaning of democracy, demos refers to the people, while -cracy is government, meaning the government of the people. Our political opportunities, such as voting, give each person a voice in what happens in our systems. Whether you are male or female, rich or poor, rural or urban, you have an equal vote in how your country and your municipality are run.
It is great to encourage general political participation, and there are lots of reasons that nurses can benefit from voting and being politically active. Political activity is as old as the nursing profession. Florence Nightingale developed the world’s first graphs, and showed them to the British Parliament, convincing politicians to continue funding her work in Crimea. There is a legacy in health care that is the result of political activity, and nurses can continue these efforts today.
Here are the top 3 reasons why nurses need to be politically active:
Politics can change the work we do
Political factors can have a substantial impact on what type of work we do as nurses, because of the impacts on society. A prime example? Texting and driving. Laws were enacted in Canada to decrease distracted driving, and there have been fewer car accidents as a result. This means fewer trauma codes, fewer Intensive Care Unit admissions, fewer fatalities. Laws and political decisions impact care we need to provide as nurses. As nurses, we can ask ourselves, who is coming through our doors? What could be done to address preventable illness and injury?
We can represent the interests of the Nursing profession
Most nurses are experiencing, or have experienced a period where there have been health care cutbacks, wage freezes, working without a contract, decreases to hospital funding, strikes- most of us have been there. Nurses can follow these funding decisions directly to their impact on patient care, because of our role providing patient care. When we vote, we elect people who will make budgeting decisions. We can vote for people who will support our job security, and adequate funding for health care. We can also reinforce the importance of the nursing profession by contacting politicians to share information and let them know that nurses vote. Political activity gives nurses an opportunity to represent and advance our professional values.
We can advocate for our patients.
For me, the most important reason to be politically active is because politics is a means for nurses to advocate for patients. Advocacy is very important for nurses because social justice is a core value of the nursing profession. When we work in clinical settings, we can help one patient at a time, and this work is central to our profession. When we vote, sign a petition, or participate in a political event, we can potentially help thousands of people at a time. Political activity takes the work of nurses from being a discreet event in one setting, and raises it to a societal level.
A lot of the social determinants of health can be impacted through political decisions. Nurses can help to protect health care access for vulnerable populations. An example of this is refugees. In Canada for example, funding was cut to refugee health care programs. An outcry from multiple professions took the case to the Supreme Court of Canada, where the decision was overturned. This is an example of when political action was effective to advocate for a vulnerable population. How many of such step have we embarked upon as Nurses in Nigeria?
So what can we do?
There are many other ways nurses can be politically active and these include:
Voting in any election
Encourage your friends to vote, too!
Call or email your elected representatives, and tell them about an issue that matters to you.
Engage with a political party or organization and share information with your followers.
Actively participate in your nursing union or association.
Join a protest or demonstration targeted at protecting/defending the integrity of Nursing and Nurses
Write a letter to the editor about an issue in your community/ profession.
Run for a political position or office- can be anything from your unit, state or national NANNM or local, state and federal positions.
Talk about politics with your coworkers, friends, and neighbors. Encourage them to get involved too, even if they have different views.
CONCLUSION
Dear professional colleagues, if we must move our profession forward to its deserved enviable position, political will become necessary. Why would some particular professionals continue to be appointed Minister of Health? Does that mean we do not have Nurses that are as well competent? Even at our state levels, Nurses are yet to be emerging ordinary permanent secretaries in our ministries. Are we going to continue folding our hands? It is high time we all get involved. If we have gotten the required political involvement and support since these days, we would have achieved more than this as a profession. Let me therefore use the opportunity afforded me by this programme to salute the courage, dedication and doggedness of our able and dynamic National President Comrade (Alhaji) AbdRafiu Alani Adeniji, his team and the new Registrar, Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria, Alhaji Faruk Umar Abubakar, for the feat achieved at the last Council of Establishment meeting held in Niger state and other ongoing educational reforms. But it is not over until it is over as more steps still need to be taken -most of which require political will- to drive home all our demands completely.
As a professional organization(NANNM Osun State Council), we are irrevocably committed and dedicated to contribute our own quota to the upliftment of Nursing here in this state. And the door of my administration is widely opened for advice and constructive criticism. The tasks before us as Nurses are onerous, and require our collective collaboration and team work. The earlier we shun unnecessary division among ourselves, the better for our dear profession. Whether you belong to NANNM, GNAN, NAPON, UGONSA etc, the facts remains that you are a Nurse. I am hence appealing that we all get involved in politics both within and outside nursing at our respective units and prepare ourselves for elective offices up to the point of having a Nurse emerging the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Yesterday has become history, today will soon go into oblivion, while the future we are heading to will surely become history” Let us all hence write good history for ourselves as far as our dear Nursing profession is concerned.
I thank you all for your attention, may God bless you all.
LONG LIVE NANNM
LONG LIVE NUNSA
LONG LIVE LAUTECH
LONG LIVE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA
‘ACCELERATING CHANGE AND TRANSFORMATION VIA POLITICAL WILL AND DIRECTION: THE ROLE OF PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATION’ BEING A PAPER PRESENTED BY COMRADE SAMUEL OLUMIDE FANIRAN, OSUN STATE NANNM CHAIRMAN, AT THE ANNUAL NURSES WEEK CONFERENCE OF NUNSA, LAUTECH CHAPTER TODAY, MONDAY 26TH MAY, 2017 AT 600 SEATER HALL LAUTECH, ISALE OSUN, OSOGBO.
PROTOCOLS!
I feel highly honoured and privileged to be invited to deliver a paper at an important programme of this nature. Nurses week is an annual event being celebrated globally in honour and commemoration of the mother of modern Nursing- Florence Nightingale. It gives me joy to associate myself and the association with our professional colleagues and the Nursing students of this citadel of academic excellence, for not being left out of this year’s celebration. I therefore bring felicitations from all Osun Nurses and Midwives.
The topic given to me -Accelerating change and transformation via political will and direction: the role of professional organization- is strategic and very timely especially at this crucial period in the life of our profession when almost every progressive move is being accompanied by counter and retrogressive reactions by different groups and individuals, within the profession. But before we go into the nitty-gritty of the topic, it becomes highly imperative that we define some of the key words emanating from the topic.
Accelerating: Accelerating according to Longman dictionary implies making something happens more or more quickly
Change: This simply means to become different or to make something become different. It can also implies to stop doing or using one thing, and start doing or using something else instead.
Transformation: A complete change in someone or something.
Via: Through
Politics: Longman dictionary defines politics as the ideas and activities relating to gaining and using power in a country.
Direction: Direction, according to the dictionary means the way something or someone moves, faces or is aimed.
Role: The way in which someone or something is involved in an activity or situation, and how much influence they have on it.
Professional: This can simply be defined according to Longman dictionary as that relating to a job that needs special education and training.
Organization: Organization is a group of people, companies or countries, which is set up for a particular purpose.
Nursing and Nurses:
Nursing, as an integral part of the health care system, encompasses the promotion of health, prevention of illness, and care of physically ill, mentally ill, and disabled people of all ages, in all health care and other community settings. Within this broad spectrum of health care, the phenomena of particular concern to nurses are individual, family, and group "responses to actual or potential health problems". These human responses range broadly from health restoring reactions to an individual episode of illness to the development of policy in promoting the long-term health of a population.
The unique function of nurses in caring for individuals, sick or well, is to assess their responses to their health status and to assist them in the performance of those activities contributing to health or recovery or to dignified death that they would perform unaided if they had the necessary strength, will, or knowledge and to do this in such a way as to help them gain full or partial independence as rapidly as possible (Henderson, 1977, p.4). Within the total health care environment, nurses share with other health professionals and those in other sectors of public service the functions of planning, implementation, and evaluation to ensure the adequacy of the health system for promoting health, preventing illness, and caring for ill and disabled people.
NURSING AND ITS VARIOUS TRANSFORMATIONS SO FAR:
Nursing Education:
Nursing education consists of the theoretical and practical training provided to nurses with the purpose of preparing them for their duties as nursing care professionals. This education is provided to nursing students by experienced nurses and other medical professionals who are qualified or experienced for educational tasks. Most countries offer nurse education courses that can be relevant to general nursing or to specialized areas including mental health nursing, pediatric nursing and post-operatory nursing. Courses leading to autonomous registration as a nurse typically last three years. Nurse education also provides post-qualification courses in specialist subjects within nursing.
Historical background:
During past decades, the changes in education have replaced the more practically focused, but often ritualistic, training structure of conventional preparation. Nurse education integrates today a broader awareness of other disciplines allied to medicine, often involving inter-professional education, and the utilization of research when making clinical and managerial decisions. Orthodox training can be argued to have offered a more intense practical skills base, but emphasized the handmaiden relationship with the physician. This is now outmoded, and the impact of nurse education is to develop a confident, inquiring graduate who contributes to the care team as an equal. In some countries, not all qualification courses have graduate status.
Traditionally, from the times prior to Florence Nightingale , nursing was seen as an apprenticeship, often undertaken in religious institutes such as convents by young women, although there has always been a proportion of male nurses, especially in mental health services. In 1860 Nightingale set up the first nurse training school at St Thomas' Hospital, London. Nightingale's curriculum was largely based around nursing practice, with instruction focused upon the need for hygiene and task competence. Her methods are reflected in her Notes on Nursing, (1898).
Some other nurses at that time, notably Ethel Gordon Fenwick , were in favor of formalized nursing registration and curricula that were formally based in higher education and not within the confines of hospitals.
Nursing qualifications:
There are multiple entry levels into nursing. This has led to confusion for the public, as well as other healthcare professionals. The earliest schools of nursing offered a Diploma in Nursing and not an actual academic degree. Community colleges began offering an Associate of Science in Nursing degree, and some diploma programs switched to this model.
Universities then began to offer Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Bachelor of Nursing degrees, followed by Master of Science in Nursing degrees, and Doctor of Nursing Practice degrees.
The emergence of professionalism in nursing education:
Nurses, according to the ICN Code of Ethics as reviewed in 2005, have four fundamental responsibilities: to promote health, to prevent illness, to restore health and to alleviate suffering. The need for nursing is universal. Inherent in nursing is respect for human rights, including cultural rights, the right to life and choice, to dignity and to be treated with respect. Nursing care is respectful of and unrestricted by considerations of age, colour, creed, culture, disability or illness, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, politics, race or social status. Nurses render health services to the individual, the family and the community and coordinate their services with those of related groups. Before 1981, nursing was adjudged a vocation in Nigeria, but by virtue of the Industrial Arbitration Panel (IAP) award of 1981, nursing got the recognition of a full-fledged profession. Arising from that pronouncement, the association has been working with the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria, to take nursing to the highest pedestral of professionalism, and one of the ways is through nursing education reforms.
History of Nursing in Nigeria:
The detailed history of a profession that combines scientific principles, technical skills and personal comparison can not be precisely relayed, but records hold that Nursing came to limelight in 1854 when the Mother of Professional Nursing, Florence Nightingale started the battlefield with other 38 nurses and cared for the sick and injured men during the Crimean war in England. Her persistence dedicated service, day and night, experiences paid off by making her famous and recognized by lady with the lamp. Her metric service resulted in complete change in Nursing profession and lead to the beginning of professional nursing. Though, Nursing in the early days was primarily a family matter with mothers caring for their own families or neighbors assisting each other.
Though, nursing came to Nigeria through the British Colonial masters. They provided services and medical care for wounded soldiers at the furtherworth Hospital. Later the first nursing home in Nigeria in Jericho, Ibadan by the government of the British Colonial masters.
Later on, missionaries and their wives came to supplement government effort by setting up Mission homes, Dispensaries e.t.c. and commence the training of Nurses in Nigeria, though language barrier there was no formal training but on the Job acquisition skills and practical aspect are been rendered by nursing surgery.
The regional government in Nigeria began the training of nurses by setting individual regional standard. In 1949, the School of Nursing, Eleyele was established to facilitate the training of nurses, later in 1952, the University College Hospital Ibadan started the training of nurses in a higher standard. In 1949, the Nursing Council of Nigeria was established to complement the efforts of the various training bodies and creating standards for Nurses.
By 1965, a department of Nursing was established in the University of Ibadan to commence a degree programme in Nigeria. Later on, University of Ife(now Obafemi Awolowo University) and University of Nigeria, Enugu also started degree in 1973. At present all the states of Nigeria has one or more School of Nursing, Midwifery and kinds of Post Basic schools. More degree awarding institutions had been granted the license to produce degree holder in Nursing. Among them are Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; University of Calabar, Calabar; Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso. Also private Universities such as, Babcock University, Ilisan Remo; Leadcity University; Madonna University among others started degree in Nursing. Very recently, Nursing made another milestone as it concluded all arrangements to make its Schools of Nursing Higher National Diploma(HND) awarding institutions as a means of finding a lasting solution to the academic qualification challenge.
Today, several opportunities are opened for Nurses to advance their education to whatever level they intend to, to the extent that we now have many professors in Nursing.
NANNM AS A PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATION:
Professional organizations and associations in nursing are critical for generating the energy, flow of ideas, and proactive work needed to maintain a healthy profession that advocates for the needs of its clients and nurses, and the trust of society.
In Nigeria, just like in the developed countries of the world, there are several professional organizations in Nursing. Among these are the National Association of Nurse Anaesthetists(NANA), National Association of Perioperative Nurses (NAPON), Association of Orthopaedic Nurses, Nurse Educators, Public Health Nurses, Psychiatric Nurses etc and NANNM. All these specialist organizations have their responsibilities which centred on moving Nursing forward as far as their specialty is concerned. But the umbrella body of all Nurses and Midwives in the country is the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM). NANNM is both a trade union as well as a professional association which represents the interest of all Nurses irrespective of certificate or specialty. NANNM has these philosophies as enshrined in the article III of its constitution:
-The National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives believes in activities which will bring about positive changes required in making nursing profession more responsive to health need of individuals, families and communities. It is the belief of the Association that the broad interest of its members should be protected and well represented before contemporary professions, employers and the public at large.
-The association believes in continuing education of the nurse and nursing research as a major way of attaining perfection in nursing practice.
-The association believes in ion and understanding among its members and other working class promoting unity, cooperation and understanding among its members and other working class organizations generally.
Going through all the aims and objectives of NANNM, it could be summarized that same centred at taking the profession to enviable position.
Who then is NANNM? This question is very germane considering several acquisitions from different corner against NANNM. It has worsened to the extent that hardly could there be any progressive move by NANNM that would not be objected to by some set/group of people. Article IV of NANNM constitution states that- membership of the association shall be opened to all Nurses and midwives registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria, employed in the services of the Federal, State , Local government, and/ or any other institution / establishment whether private or public. So, if NANNM which is the only recognized professional association for Nurses nationally is being seeing as not performing, the implication is that all of us are not performing. All of us are NANNM members. We are all at liberty to choose anyone among us for elective positions during elections. And NANNM is so planned in such a way that it gives every Nurse a equal chance to participate in the running of the association from the unit levels, state council and to the national level. The type of leadership we elected to man our association dictates what the output would be. Hence, to accelerate the change and transformations in Nursing, it requires our collective efforts whether you are the leader or the led. We are all major stakeholders. Permit me to use the opportunity afforded me by this programme to appreciate the giant strides the present crop of people at NANNM affairs are making recently. But the fact remains, we all need to be involved rather than stay somewhere and be criticizing destructively. Our constructive criticism will go a long way in accelerating the required transformations.
Nurses and Politics: You Can Make a Difference
“The very elements of what constitutes good nursing are as little understood for the well as for the sick. The same laws of health or of nursing, for they are in reality the same, obtain among the well as among the sick. The breaking of them produces only a less violent consequence among the former than among the latter, and this sometimes, not always.” - Florence Nightingale.
The insights of Nightingale continue to be amazingly applicable to today’s health care issues. The past, present, and future of health care and nursing have several spheres of influence, including government, public policy, and workplace. The word “politics” often evokes negative emotions based upon what may be happening on a federal or state governmental level.
Partisanship and well-publicized divisions between political parties and even individual government officials can cause us to shy away from becoming involved in the political arena. The fact remains however, that what these individuals do in their roles can directly impact what we do in ours, and even the good of the society as a whole. Take a step back and ask, "Is it acceptable to ignore politics, especially in times of recent and pending health care reform legislation?" Shouldn’t we be as informed as possible with regards to what’s going on out there beyond our own workplace?
Nurses can be involved and make a difference in the political process in a variety of ways. We can impact our profession by paying attention to legislation that is introduced and by contacting our elected representatives to voice our opinions, whether they are positive or negative. Technology has made this process convenient via the use of the Internet and E-mail. Membership in professional organizations is another way to make an impact in the political arena. The old adage that there is strength in numbers is true in many cases. Those who make laws have power, but so do we. Sometimes we forget that.
We have made great strides in recent years in terms of political activism. I suspect that Nightingale would still say that we have more to do. What we do in the political arena potentially impacts all patients, those who need immediate attention and those who do not but may need it at another time. As the quote above implies, the rules and laws should need to apply to protect everyone. Isn’t that what being a true patient advocate is all about?
Nurses' Political Involvement: the Challenges/Responsibilities
Nursing apathy toward participation in the political process is pandemic. Never more so than today has the profession needed a strong united stand within the political arena. Political involvement encompasses being knowledgeable about issues, laws, and health policy.
Barriers to political activism are thought to encompass several spectra including:
Heavy workloads
Feelings of powerlessness
Time constraints
Disunity
Sex issues, and
Lack of understanding of a complex political process.
The implementation of a political role for a nurse is based on three levels of commitment including:
Survival
Success, and
Significance.
Survival includes individual involvement within communities. Success accepts challenges in addressing injustices especially within the health-care arena. Significant involvement uses visionary nurses toward the betterment of the nurse profession.
As patient advocates, nurses cannot continue to be spectators in the political arena.
Getting involved in policy and politics
As direct caregivers, nurses spend more time with patients than healthcare providers in most other disciplines. So decision makers need to hear from nurses. If we don't stand up for the issues that are important to us, those with competing interests in healthcare may be the only ones whose voices are heard.
By knowing how the system works and which strategies can effectively influence policy, any nurse can become an advocate at the local, state, or federal level. You can make phone calls to elected representatives about bills under consideration, testify before committees, become involved in practice councils or boards at the workplace, and even run for elected office.
Nursing organizations with legislative departments provide analysis on current issues in health policy and tips on how to communicate with legislators. Many also offer workshops on nursing advocacy, or legislative days at the state house, both excellent places to begin an advocacy career. You also could form a mentor relationship with an experienced nurse advocate, or seek formal education on health policy or public health. An internship with your local or state representative to work on health-related legislation helps you understand how the system works and gain networking contacts.
Strategies for involvement include:
Political awareness
Incorporation of course/program expectations on both undergraduate and post~graduate levels
Teamwork.
Evidence-based practice is the gold standard for what we do. Evidence is also needed for nursing advocacy/politics. Through research, gather a good base of evidence to present to decision makers about the changes you want to see. Be aware of limitations in studies you're presenting because other interest groups may try to find flaws in the evidence.
Don't underestimate the power of personal experiences. Speaking to decision makers about personal stories puts a face and a story to an issue. Politicians also want to hear how legislative issues would affect their constituents.
Use your local and state resources or national nursing advocacy groups to gain an understanding of current issues and learn how you can become involved. Many specialty nursing organizations have policy experts available as resources to beginning nurse advocates. They can help with preparing written or oral statements for hearings and may accompany nurses to hearings at the local, state house or even at Aso Rock .
You can make phone calls to elected representatives about bills under consideration, testify before committees, become involved in practice councils or boards at the workplace, and even run for elected office.
Network with other nurses to create a unified voice. Equally important, form a good working relationship with your elected representatives and their staff by first building
credibility with them. Working with your elected representatives on smaller nursing issues related to your experience builds credibility so they'll be more likely to turn to you when they're looking for resources for larger nursing issues. So, it is high time we put an end to unnecessary divisions among ourselves either on the basis of certificate we possess, ethnicity, religion etc so that we can have a common voice, and hence same can be heard.
Do you really want someone who isn't a nurse (or who isn't getting input from a nurse) deciding how nurses do their jobs? Nurses need to have their voices heard! Not everyone can become a full-time nurse advocate, but with even a small time commitment, it's easy to become involved.
Why Nurses Need to be Politically Active
It is a great thing to be able to participate in a general election. There are fragile democracies around the world, where people are fighting to have political rights. Many people have devoted their lives to the support of these rights, and I think we do them a great disservice if we take our democratic power for granted.
I also believe that voting and political engagement DO make a difference. If we look to the Greek meaning of democracy, demos refers to the people, while -cracy is government, meaning the government of the people. Our political opportunities, such as voting, give each person a voice in what happens in our systems. Whether you are male or female, rich or poor, rural or urban, you have an equal vote in how your country and your municipality are run.
It is great to encourage general political participation, and there are lots of reasons that nurses can benefit from voting and being politically active. Political activity is as old as the nursing profession. Florence Nightingale developed the world’s first graphs, and showed them to the British Parliament, convincing politicians to continue funding her work in Crimea. There is a legacy in health care that is the result of political activity, and nurses can continue these efforts today.
Here are the top 3 reasons why nurses need to be politically active:
Politics can change the work we do
Political factors can have a substantial impact on what type of work we do as nurses, because of the impacts on society. A prime example? Texting and driving. Laws were enacted in Canada to decrease distracted driving, and there have been fewer car accidents as a result. This means fewer trauma codes, fewer Intensive Care Unit admissions, fewer fatalities. Laws and political decisions impact care we need to provide as nurses. As nurses, we can ask ourselves, who is coming through our doors? What could be done to address preventable illness and injury?
We can represent the interests of the Nursing profession
Most nurses are experiencing, or have experienced a period where there have been health care cutbacks, wage freezes, working without a contract, decreases to hospital funding, strikes- most of us have been there. Nurses can follow these funding decisions directly to their impact on patient care, because of our role providing patient care. When we vote, we elect people who will make budgeting decisions. We can vote for people who will support our job security, and adequate funding for health care. We can also reinforce the importance of the nursing profession by contacting politicians to share information and let them know that nurses vote. Political activity gives nurses an opportunity to represent and advance our professional values.
We can advocate for our patients.
For me, the most important reason to be politically active is because politics is a means for nurses to advocate for patients. Advocacy is very important for nurses because social justice is a core value of the nursing profession. When we work in clinical settings, we can help one patient at a time, and this work is central to our profession. When we vote, sign a petition, or participate in a political event, we can potentially help thousands of people at a time. Political activity takes the work of nurses from being a discreet event in one setting, and raises it to a societal level.
A lot of the social determinants of health can be impacted through political decisions. Nurses can help to protect health care access for vulnerable populations. An example of this is refugees. In Canada for example, funding was cut to refugee health care programs. An outcry from multiple professions took the case to the Supreme Court of Canada, where the decision was overturned. This is an example of when political action was effective to advocate for a vulnerable population. How many of such step have we embarked upon as Nurses in Nigeria?
So what can we do?
There are many other ways nurses can be politically active and these include:
Voting in any election
Encourage your friends to vote, too!
Call or email your elected representatives, and tell them about an issue that matters to you.
Engage with a political party or organization and share information with your followers.
Actively participate in your nursing union or association.
Join a protest or demonstration targeted at protecting/defending the integrity of Nursing and Nurses
Write a letter to the editor about an issue in your community/ profession.
Run for a political position or office- can be anything from your unit, state or national NANNM or local, state and federal positions.
Talk about politics with your coworkers, friends, and neighbors. Encourage them to get involved too, even if they have different views.
CONCLUSION
Dear professional colleagues, if we must move our profession forward to its deserved enviable position, political will become necessary. Why would some particular professionals continue to be appointed Minister of Health? Does that mean we do not have Nurses that are as well competent? Even at our state levels, Nurses are yet to be emerging ordinary permanent secretaries in our ministries. Are we going to continue folding our hands? It is high time we all get involved. If we have gotten the required political involvement and support since these days, we would have achieved more than this as a profession. Let me therefore use the opportunity afforded me by this programme to salute the courage, dedication and doggedness of our able and dynamic National President Comrade (Alhaji) AbdRafiu Alani Adeniji, his team and the new Registrar, Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria, Alhaji Faruk Umar Abubakar, for the feat achieved at the last Council of Establishment meeting held in Niger state and other ongoing educational reforms. But it is not over until it is over as more steps still need to be taken -most of which require political will- to drive home all our demands completely.
As a professional organization(NANNM Osun State Council), we are irrevocably committed and dedicated to contribute our own quota to the upliftment of Nursing here in this state. And the door of my administration is widely opened for advice and constructive criticism. The tasks before us as Nurses are onerous, and require our collective collaboration and team work. The earlier we shun unnecessary division among ourselves, the better for our dear profession. Whether you belong to NANNM, GNAN, NAPON, UGONSA etc, the facts remains that you are a Nurse. I am hence appealing that we all get involved in politics both within and outside nursing at our respective units and prepare ourselves for elective offices up to the point of having a Nurse emerging the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Yesterday has become history, today will soon go into oblivion, while the future we are heading to will surely become history” Let us all hence write good history for ourselves as far as our dear Nursing profession is concerned.
I thank you all for your attention, may God bless you all.
LONG LIVE NANNM
LONG LIVE NUNSA
LONG LIVE LAUTECH
LONG LIVE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA
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