Nurses' Court

[asicit]

sultan qaboos university hospital

sultanate of oman

nursing services

“enhancing nurses continuous

committment to the professional

code of conduct”

excellent’ is the word to describe the dramatization of nurses’ court in the recently held international nursing conference at al-bustan hotel, muscat, sultanate of oman. the audience were literally spell bound and the show was the talking point for the remaining three days of the conference.

“nurses’ court” a first of its kind anywhere, is the initiative of the deputy director of hospital (nursing affairs) ms yusriya al akbary. the professional conduct committee (pcc) for nurses was given the mandate to improve nurses’ awareness of the nurses code of professional conduct in sultan qaboos university hospital (squh). distribution of books, leaflets were slow in achieving the desired results. a role-play was suggested by ms yusriya and was taken up by the pcc. a team was formed under the pcc chairperson ms margaret kennedy.

role-play was to be a simulated courtroom scenario, thus came to be known as “nurses’ court” . there were the judge, the jury, the prosecution, the defense, the plaintiff, the defendant and court witnesses. a typical court scene was depicted. it starts of with the initial opening arguments from the counsels, examination of witnesses and closing arguments by both counsels. the court was then recessed for the jury to deliberate. it was delightful to see the hammer came down a couple of times by the bench reprimanding counsels and audience to show restrain.

the following short break was reserved for audience participation (predominately nurses) to give their views of the case and the verdict to be. the jury comprising of three members gave their verdict individually and explaining to the audience why she came to her decision. finally, the judge makes the summation and pronounces judgment. tears and jubilation followed.

the realistic dramatization scenes, was directed by bala marimutu, a senior nursing supervisor who also wrote the scripts. nurses in squh take turns to be actors and actresses. cases for dramatization for the nurses court are at times derived from actual incidents and the script is carefully thought off, researched and written to meet the desired goals of the pcc and maximize the impact on nurses.

the first “nurses’ court” in 2003 was a resounding success. it was quickly followed by subsequent dramatizations depicting different issues of malpractices. up to date, the nurses court have dramatized three cases for the benefit of nurses in squh. nurses who attended the “court’ were impressed and felt that they have learnt more through these dramatizations rather than reading from books or attending lectures. it remains an “internalizing” experience for them

the ministry of health nursing officials who attended nurses court presentation at squh immediately requested that it be presented at the international conference.

the three cases dramatized in the nurses court since 2003 are:

1.breach of confidentiality`

2.fall incident

3.receiving of gifts

the next dramatization shall portray the ethics of "selling & promotion of commercial products by nurses"

the goals of the nurses’ court

the goal of nurses’ court is to impart knowledge and awareness to all nurses in squh on the code of professional conduct for nurses in squh by:

a.depicting realistic scenes of alleged malpractices by nurses.

b.emphasizing nurses’ general code of conduct in relation to particular areas of conflict.

c.explaining where, how and why customers complain and seek redress from the court.

d.how the public perceive nurses and their responsibilities

e.how the code protects both the nurse and the patient in the provision of safe nursing.

the court continues….

professional conduct committee,

nursing services,

sultan qaboos university hospital,

muscat, sultanate of oman.