Nurses' Role Ever Changing: Minister
By Azrol Azmi and P.Marilyn

Bandar Seri Begawan - Today's nurse is expected to be autonomous and skilled, serving other professionals, being proactive in informing, supporting and caring for the patient and the community, and joining research and evidence-based decision making.

This was highlighted by the Minister of Health Pehin Dato Haji Suyoi bin Haj-i Osman during the closing ceremony of the 7th Biennial International Nursing Conference held yesterday.

The nurses' role is progressively expanding towards public health, and its impact has started to reveal itself. The contribution of nurses and midwives to reach the Millennium Development Goals in Health is increasingly evident, he said. Global evidence support that the availability of health professionals, skilled nurses and midwives, have greatly contributed in reducing maternal and child and infant mortality rates.

In many countries of the world, the improvements in maternal and neonatal survival, the improvements in vaccination rates, are closely attributed to the vigilance and commitment of nurses and midwives in primary health care, the Minister said.

However the nursing profession is still facing some serious challenges worldwide, which are essentially part of the Global Health Workforce crisis the world is witnessing lately, he said. Nurses suffer from a significant shortage in number.

It is estimated out of the four million human resources in health needed, nurses constitute a significant proportion with the world observing an important discrepancy in the nurses' geographic distribution both between and within countries, he said. A number of issues can influence the progress of any study to estimate these requirements. There is an urgent need to develop a profile of the current labour force, to better understand its dynamics and behaviour, and to highlight variables or indicators that can provide information for monitoring and influencing policy decision making, he said.

The Ministery of Health would like to set up the National Nursing and Midwifery Human Resource Minimum Dataset, he said. The minimum dataset is a critical element to the successful implementation of workforce planning.

What will emerge from the extensive analysis of the dataset is the vital need for a formal and comprehensive approach to workforce planning at regional, national and local level and must be supported by accessible dynamic information systems providing timely and accurate data, he said.

The integrated workforce planning aims to ensure that the health service has sufficient staff with the requisite skills and competencies to deliver quality care. The challenges for the future are to be able to recruit and retain skilled personnel in a changing labour market, to ensure that the education and training processes provide personnel with the skills that the health service needs, and to ensure that the available skills and competencies are deployed for maximum efficiency and effectiveness on the ground.

The ultimate aim is to have the right number of nurses and midwives in the right place at the right time, with the right skills to ensure that the patient receives the highest standard of care when needed. We will have to approach this with innovation and flexibility, he said.

"Nursing education in the sultanate has moved from an apprentice model to a diploma model in the last 10 years", he said. "He hopes it moves to a degree model", he added. Nursing and midwifery are now placed within an academic environment appropriate for the training of highly qualified, skilled professionals, he said.

Health care, in particular nursing must transform itself according to social change and release the benefits of scientific and technological development, he said.

Technology savvy nurses are assets to any health care organisation. Nursing can no longer rely on system of the past to guide through the future challenges, and in realising to this, the Ministry of Health is aware that the health service of the future will need to update its staff on the latest skills and evidence-based information, and require greater inter-disciplinary cooperation in the delivery of health care, he said. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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