Local nurses called on to increase level of care

Local nurses called on to increase level of care

JAKARTA (JP): Nurses should improve the quality of their care
and become more professional in their daily service, a senior
nurse said yesterday.

Ratna Sitorus Sudarsono, a teacher at the University of
Indonesia's school of nursing, said that there were far too many
instances of patients becoming victims from the carelessness of
nurses.

"Our nurses are not properly trained in their education to
render professional care," she lamented.

"Current nursing schools only teach concepts (of professional
nursing) to nurses, but the application is hardly seen in
practice," she told The Jakarta Post after speaking at a seminar
on medical care management here yesterday.

She said proper training could help improve nurses'
professional attitudes and help them to discern their patients'
basic needs.

Ratna explained that if nurses wished to establish a high
standard of professionalism in their work, they needed to become
more active in determining the type of care that patients
require.

She said nurses now are far too passive, acting only when
ordered by senior medical personnel.

Ratna noted that nurses were not expected to render major
medical treatment to patients but they should be able to make
simple diagnoses.

Simple diagnoses by nurses, she said, must fulfill the often
neglected basic needs of patients which includes the need to
communicate with other people and even the need for a change of
clothing.

Ratna, who also chairs the management board at The Indonesian
Florence Nightingale Foundation, underlined that nurses should be
more caring when providing service.

The Indonesian Florence Nightingale Foundation was created to
establish cooperation between Indonesian and English healthcare
professionals.

It was founded on Sept. 9 this year to promote the training
and education of nurses. (09)