[WavesOfMercy]

G'day,
1st let me say I am not a nurse. But I am deeply involved in a development program in the Solomon Islands that is trying to find ways to help the local nurses improve their professional skills and working conditions. That is why I am here. I came to present my problem, and the problem of most of the nurses we are working with, to other nurses from more fortunate countries in the hope that a few workable solutions might be found.

Most of the nurses in Isabel Province, Solomon's poorest province, were very badly trained in the first place - if that is, they received any official training at all. The vast majority have had to learn on the job and by reading everything they can find on nursing. There is a very strong tradition of the older nurses teaching what they know to the younger ones, but that only goes so far, especially now that we are introducing more modern techniques and equipment.

These people are dedicated and hard working, while being radically over worked and under paid. I was once told that last bit is one of the true definitions of any nurse. The question is how can the charity I work with help these people learn and improve their skills? Going away for training is not possible, even if there was a school for them to go to. We could have volunteers in to do training if that seemed like the best solution. Are there any interactive training programs that we could set up on our intranet server for on line training? Any other ideas or suggestions?

And finally are there small things, unofficial things, we can do to make working life a little easier for our nurses? Aside from teaching doctors to write in a readable manner and / or getting these nurses a well earned raise. Both hopeless causes I am sorry to say.

Thanks in advance for any help and suggestions

[suzanne4]

There is much that can be learned just from reading threads on this forum and we have areas for each specialty.

We have threads under the specialty section at the top for all of the different areas of nursing and there are also links there to learning all different techniques for doing different procedures.

Do you have internet capabilities for them or just the in-house intranet servers available for them? What type of schooling did the ones have that went thru an official type program?

Answering these questions will make it easier for me to help you.

[WavesOfMercy]

Thank you for the advice. Right now we only have a very ad hoc form of intranet in the hospital (40 beds) that we hope to extend to the 5 main health clinics and even some day to the main health posts. Within the next 6 months we should have full time internet although not very fast. That is the big hope we have for the possibility of serious distance learning. I should mention there is only one GP in the whole province and that is it for MD's. The nurses run the whole health care show there.

Of the roughly 65 health workers and "nurses" only 5 have had real training. 4 actually went to Oz for basic nurses training. Most have had various "work shops" and many are where they are in the health posts because they are the village midwives. The work shops ranged from professional, run by people with a clue, to pretty useless time wasters. I have managed to convince WHO to do several professional workshops over the next year on things like "sharps management and safe injection practices" and various other useful things to know. We have friends at WHO in Geneva who are helping out, but it is still a patch work.

Any ideas will be very welcome.

[suzanne4]

Give me a day or two to get back to you with some things that I think will be beneficial to you.

[WavesOfMercy]

Thank you Susanne4,

As you can see we are fighting an up hill battle, but the good part is that we have some pretty dedicated people to work with. Imagine being posted to a small health post in the middle of a jungle 2 days walk from the nearest zonal clinic. You have exactly a building where you work and sleep and perhaps a table and chair to work with.

Your pay may or may not arrive. Some of your coworkers have not been paid for up to 4 months at a time. There are 6-8 villages who depend on you for the sum total of their health care. Many are another 2 days walk through the jungles away.

Now to my mind the people who work under those conditions, and do not say "the h*ll with this I'm going back to farming", deserve our admiration as well as all the help we can find them. Now you have an idea why I volunteered to help out here.

I believe you have access to my email if you send me an address I can send you more information that might help to not only understand but how best to find suitable training materials. And finally are there small things, unofficial things, we can do to make working life a little easier for these nurses?

[vamparee]

Hi
I see no one is answering, probably because it’s in the too hard basket. There are some really great resources put out by the Australian Gov for remote and rural nurses. Having guideline for common conditions ect what medications to administer for how long and when you need to access the MOs. Don’t know if this is any help as to their pay conditions. You need a united front to high light their issues.
Vamparee

[WavesOfMercy]

Thanks for the tips. If you have any URLs I might follow or suggestions they would be appreciated. I think you are right about this being a sticky one to answer. On the other hand I had hoped for some solid feed back even if only for the small things we could provide to make life easier for the nurses there. We can't get near the salary subject as that is completely out of our control, but could provide small " thank you for being you " incentives. I was hoping for a few suggestions there also.

Thanks again

[sunnie16]

Hi there, would you be able give a little more detail as to exactly what areas these nurses are lacking in training, basic knowldge etc. What kind of nursing care are they mostly providing or is it a bit of everything? I would expect that they have alot of acute injury type work as it is remote/rural? Maybe this info will help direct anyone that would be able to give you specifc advice.
Thanks

[WavesOfMercy]

Yes I believe you could say rural for sure. In fact these dedicated men and women are working in some of the most impossible you could dream of. Just imagine having to walk for two days carrying all your supplies on your back, camping out at night in the jungles, and all to bring modest health services to a few isolated villages. That is the norm, not the exception. The OR room lacks even proper OR lights. I could go on for days but that is a good start.The lab has no microscope and the nurses no uniforms or PPE other than what they make for themselves.I could go on but that should give you an idea. Oh and I almost forgot they are over worked, under paid, and highly under valued, but then that seem to be normal for nurses everywhere.With only one doctor for 40,000 people scattered over 4,500 sq/ kms it is the nurses who carry the major load of delivering health care and services. We are trying to find them better equipment, uniforms, PPE, and some small 100cc motor bikes to get around on but, all that takes time and donors are difficult to find. What I was hoping for is on line basic training or DVD's with basic and advanced courses they can follow as time allows. They want training and constantly list that as their number one priority. The question is how can we provide it on very limited budgets? Secondly can you think of any small things a nurse needs that we could provide quickly to help keep moral up until things can be improved?