The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Nurse's alertness key to timely and correct treatment: experts

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 13, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Nurse's alertness key to timely and correct treatment: experts

Staff Reporter

Long serving nurses of Sankara Nethralaya were felicitated

CARING HANDS: Jayarani (left), nursing supervisor, Sundaram Medical Foundation, interacts with nurses at Sankara Nethralaya on the occasion of International Nurses Day on Friday. — Photo: K.V. Srinivasan

CHENNAI: A focussed nurse will be a keen observer who can detect changes in a patient and ensure better treatment, according to professional nurses and doctors.

While nursing care was needed for patients of all ages, some groups such as those in intensive care unit, children and the elderly need special care. A nurse must be alert to changes in patient's condition to ensure timely and correct treatment.

During a meeting organised by the Department of Nursing at Medical Research Foundation in Sankara Nethralaya on Friday, speakers recalled the service of Florence Nightingale, considered the founder of modern nursing. This year's theme was `safe staffing saves lives.'

Every year, May 12 is observed as International Nurses Day. To mark the occasion, a special programme was held to felicitate long-serving nurses of Sankara Nethralaya and to update knowledge in the field of paediatric and geriatric nursing.

Jayarani, nursing supervisor at Sundaram Medical Foundation, spoke on emergency patient care in intensive care units. Manimegalai, an ICU nurse with Kanchi Kamakoti CHILDS Trust Hospital, spoke on caring for paediatric patients. By merely noting changes in the colour of the baby a nurse should be able to detect changes in the child's condition, she said. Simple clinical examinations such as checking pulse and heart rate and the skin temperature would help a nurse make a quick decision, she said.

S. Sivakumar, geriatrician at Madras Medical College, spoke on the needs of elderly patients who looked for better quality of life and survival.

Medically, in India, people above 60 years were classified as geriatrics and those above 80 frail elders, requiring multidisciplinary treatment. Nurses must make functional assessment of such patients every day, he said.

S. Meenakshi, director, Academics, Medical Research Foundation, spoke.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail