The Chairperson of the governing board of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (N&MC), Reverend Veronica Darko, has called on nurses and midwives in the country to improve health care service delivery, as a means of addressing growing trends in the profession.
According to her, there was the need for nurses to develop transformational programmes that would boost their competency in the service to patients and clients.
Speaking at the launch of a two-day webinar to mark the 50th anniversary of the N&MC in Accra on Tuesday, Rev. Darko indicated that it was vital for the Council to regulate such an important and trusted profession.
“If we are to play our part in making sure safe, high quality and consistent standards of care are being delivered, we need to continue to improve”, she said.
Rev. Darko acknowledged that nurses and midwives since time immemorial have provided essential services to strengthen the health system of the country, hence there was the need to improve their skills.
She noted that the anniversary celebration was a perfect springboard for the World Health Organisation (WHO) Year of the Nurse and Midwife in 2020, and challenged them to ensure change in the way clients, the public and policymakers thought of and saw the profession.
“Throughout our 50 year journey, we have had to look continuously towards the fulfilment of our mission. From being a highly centralised to a decentralised institution, closer to our clients, from a process-driven to a results-driven organisation, we must redesign ourselves for the new challenges and opportunities,” Rev. Darko added.
Mr Felix Nyante, Registrar of the N&MC, underscored the need for the two key health stakeholders to adopt new technology in addressing the health needs of patients.
“This year we celebrate 50 years of regulatory excellence and anticipate a future of transforming nursing and midwifery regulation and embracing innovations to further our mission of securing in the public interest the highest standards of training, education and practice of nursing and midwifery,” he noted.
Touching on the achievements of the council, Mr Nyante said the Council among other things, had helped the country to set a pace by being the first in Africa to have developed and implemented online licensing examination for nursing and midwifery trainees.
“We have digitised our services, PIN/AIN printing, results checking, indexing, registration, Online CPD and records for nurses and midwives among others,” he added.
To commemorate the year-long celebration of its golden jubilee, the Council has outlined topics which speakers of the profession would hammer on to ensure improvement in the profession.
These topics include ‘Nurses and midwives, the drivers of universal health coverage’, ‘Nothing about the patient without the patient’ and ‘Embracing 21st century technology for the 21st century nurse or midwife’ among others.
BY TIMES REPORTER
