61 trained in peri-operative nursing

Pg 15. Wed. April 09/08

Story Rebecca Quaicoe Duho

SIXTY-ONE nurses from across the country are undergoing a specialised training aimed at upgrading their skills.
The three-day seminar is organised by the School of Peri-operative and Critical Care Nursing at Korle-Bu in Accra with resource persons from the Friends of African Nursing (FoAN), a UK-based nursing association.
Peri-operative nursing is a specialised field of nursing that takes care of patients before, during and after surgery. They work in surgical departments of hospitals, ambulatory surgery units, clinics and physicians’ offices and work closely with the surgical patient, family members and health-care professionals to help plan, implement and evaluate treatment.
The Minister of Health, Major Courage Quashigah (retd), who opened the seminar in Accra, said the work of the peri-operative nurse was unique and strategic for the advancement of surgery and critical care in the country.
“Unfortunately, our major concerns in public health have been of such dimensions that we have not always been able or willing to accord surgical care its eminent and rightful place in the planning and implementation of health sector programmes,” he said.
“I am afraid with the new health policy, this perception will carry on for some time. This is because the overwhelming challenge to the health of this nation has to be confronted through proper sanitation, nutrition and a change in lifestyle of the wider population,” he added.
The peri-operative nurse, according to the minister, has to be able to implement nursing actions to ensure and maintain a safe environment for the patient, as well as demonstrate the proper use of all operation room equipment and so commended the school for the programme.
He said one of the major strategies of the five-year programme of work in the health sector was to rehabilitate the infrastructure of teaching and regional hospitals, as well as institute formal and in-service training schemes for both clinical and management staff.
A co-founder of FoAN, Mrs Lesley Fudge, who gave an overview of the seminar, said it was aimed at keeping peri-operative nurses abreast of international practice.
Mrs Fudge mentioned topics to be treated to include the operating theatre environment, conflict management, personal development, clinical issues, legal background and risk management of patients.
The President of the Ghana Registered Nurses Association, Mrs Alice Darkoa Asare Allotey, called for a system of cross-professionalism in the health sector so that nurses could be trained to perform some functions of the doctor to help ease the workload of doctors.
A lecturer at the School of Peri-operative and Critical Nursing, Prof. Edward D. Yeboah, who chaired the programme, stressed the need for more specialised nurses.
The head of the Peri-operative school, Mr Kwaku Asante-Krobea, said the school had trained 408 specialised nurses since the school was established 11 years ago and called for more permanent infrastructure to facilitate its work.