Nurses told to improve service

Nurses told to improve service

Dewi Santoso, Jakarta

Nurses were urged on Friday to upgrade their education and skills
to so they would have early diagnosis expertise in a bid to
improve medical services at hospitals and health clinics.

In the future, nurses should be professionals, who can make an
early diagnosis and/or analysis for a patient instead of being
merely assistants to the doctors, said Saint Carolus School of
Health Science dean Murni Suliantoro.

Speaking at a seminar in Jakarta, she said most Indonesian
nurses only served as doctors' assistants tasked with operational
jobs such as injecting patients or moving them from one area to
another.

"That's not what we want our nurses to be. They should be able
to perform more than just operational procedures. Say, if there
is a patient suffering from breathing problems, nurses should be
able to analyze and diagnose the possible ailments that were
causing the problem," said Murni.

In doing so, she said, nurses would then act more as doctors'
partners.

"However, most of our nurses lack the capabilities to perform
like that due to their poor skills and education," she said.

She explained that most nurses in the country only took
nursing diploma courses, which were inadequate to support their
professionalism as the program did not provide them with advanced
medical skills such as analyzing a patient's medical history.

"In other countries, such as the United States, nurses
sometimes hold doctoral degrees, which provide them with the
knowledge and skills to carry out analytical tasks," Murni told
The Jakarta Post.

Data from the Ministry of Health shows there were 10,333
nurses in 2003, most of whom graduated from three-year diploma
programs.

At the Saint Carolus School of Health Science, approximately
120 students were enrolled annually to pursue a diploma degree.

"What we're trying to do is to encourage them to pursue a
higher degree as it will help them learn more things that would
advance their knowledge and competence in providing better health
services," said Muni.

Sharing her view was Saint Carolus School of Health Science of
Higher Education principal Sister Christophora, who said that
nurses had to understand their crucial role in providing higher
quality health services.

However, Murni admitted that it was hard to encourage students
to apply for nursing as their major because the profession has a
reputation for being "second-class" medical workers.

"Therefore, we've been trying to promote the profession among
high school students by visiting schools and telling them how
important the role of a good nurse is," she said.

The have recently visited schools such as Don Bosco High
School in Pulo Mas, East Jakarta; Tarakanita 2 High School in
Pulo Raya, South Jakarta; Pangudi Luhur High School in Kampung
Sawah, East Jakarta; and Marsudilini High School in Bekasi, east
of Jakarta.