The Chief Nursing Officer in the Ministry of Health, Thandie Kgosidiile, has expressed concern over Batswana nurses, saying that their professional conduct and work ethics are continuously degrading and blemish the nursing profession in the country.
Speaking during a two-day Nurses Workshop in Francistown last week, Kgosidiile said that despite the nursing profession being a sensitive field, Batswana nurses are no longer observing values and ethics of the profession.
“We are no longer nurses or midwives who put the interests of patients before ours,” she maintained.
Kgosidiile said that in recent years, the nursing profession has been marked by huge amounts of absenteeism and imbalances in staffing, particularly during the holidays.
She said that there are rampant complaints from the public that the service delivery by nurses is way below standard.
“It is disheartening to even imagine the attitude that nurses or midwives display to their patients,” she remarked.
Kgosidiile did not mince her words, saying that the public constantly complains of their inhuman behavior and accusing nurses of not respecting their patients.
She added that some of the nurses use vulgar language while on duty, which she said clearly shows the decline of ethics and values within the nursing profession. She warned that without abandoning such behaviors, the Nurse and the Midwifery Council will fail to attain its Millennium Development Goals.
“There are clear cases of some nurses whose performance and conduct on the job lacks professionalism which then questions the kind of training, professional socialization and nurse leadership they have acquired,” she said.
Kgosidiile added that some of the nurses have tainted the profession in such a way that all the nurses are perceived badly by the public although there are some who are good professional nurses.
She added that most of the nurses do not practice what they have been trained to do in their areas of training, which further blemishes the nursing profession in the country.
Kgosidiile implored the nurses to demonstrate their professionalism without blemish and to strive for excellence. She advised the nurses to try and uplift the image of the nursing profession by observing their code of ethics and maintaining good working conducts and performance.
The workshop was organized by the Ministry of Health to discuss how the nurses can improve their care delivery with regard to their professional conduct.
