Happy International Nurses Day to all South African Nurses, they are the men and woman that are changing the lives everyday citizens!
International Nurses Day is celebrated on the 12th of May every year in honour of Florence Nightingale who was born on this day in 1820 and is respected for “changing the face of nursing from mostly an untrained profession to a highly skilled and well- respected medical profession” as well as turning the Nursing profession into patient – centred work.
The work done world wide is patient care related but often a nurses hands are tied and they constantly have to refer patients to doctors during the primary care consultation.
A new tool has been designed that is enabling South African nurses to further care for patients and get to more patients in an effective manner, meaning that overcrowding and misdiagnosis can be curbed. PACK – Practical Approach to Care Kit was created in South Africa as a way to help aid nurses.
“It’s a comprehensive clinical practice guideline that aims to equip nurses and other clinicians to diagnose and manage common adult conditions at primary level.”
“The starting point is any of 40 common symptoms, each of which provides the opportunity to identify one or more of 20 important chronic conditions in the second half of the guideline. These include infectious diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, cardiovascular risk, hypertension and diabetes, mental health conditions, musculoskeletal disorders, epilepsy and women’s health.”
This tool is especially great for nurses in rural based clinics where doctors are not always available on a daily basis. The PACK is also planned to get sent out to other countries such as Brazil and more!
The tool has been tested on a few remote clinics and has proved exceptionally useful! Watch more below,
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