Addition of 125 nursing assistants in Sayaji Hospital helps in better patient-care

About 125 young boys and girls have been providing various health care services to the patients as Nursing Assistants in the Corona Treatment Department of Sayaji Hospital for the last 15 days. These people have completed their final year B.Sc Nursing as well as completed a Bachelor’s Degree in G.N.M. Nursing and are currently providing invaluable services during this time of crisis as part of a mandatory internship. For the patients, their services and care treatment is becoming a relief and for the existing nursing staff, it eases their burden of working.

There was a huge inflow of patients in the early days, with little knowledge of the new disease, it caused patients to experience mental fear and confusion and consequently increasing the burden on existing nursing staff, said Dr. O.B. Belim Nodal officer. In view of the need to increase the nursing staff, the Officer on Special Duty, and the Secretary of Education, Dr. Vinod Rao decided to hire the final year as well as internship nursing students as nursing assistants.

Today with the availability of 125 students from various nursing colleges including government, the scope of nursing services has increased. These people are getting very useful work experience which will be crucial in shaping their future careers in the field of nursing. Now Post-Graduate and Ph.D. studies can be done in nursing. In the future, any of these assistant students or students possibly will get a Ph.D. on a subject like nursing management of COVID patients.

In addition to a monthly stipend of Rs 10,000, these people are being provided free accommodation in the hostel, snacks, and meals, and meals during duty in the ward as well as other facilities. Mask, hand gloves, PPE kit, sanitizer, head cover are being provided to protect them against infection.

Hetvi Patel and Sejal said, that it was very satisfying to have the opportunity to take care of the patients just like their family members. They can provide support so that the patient’s morale and confidence increase. Here they have a rich experience of advanced treatment related to regular treatment of patients like giving medicine, pills, injections, checking diabetes, BP just like the regular staff. Music therapy, exercises, and sports have been started for the patients which boost their morale. The guidance of experienced physicians and staff enriches their knowledge.

Janaki Shah has been a staff nurse at Sayaji Hospital for the last 15 years and is currently serving in the COVID department for the last 6 months. The arrival of nursing assistants has shared the workload. According to her, now that the availability of nursing staff is increasing against the number of patients, better care can be taken of each patient which is improving the recovery rate. She feels that Dr. Vinod Rao has made this very noble, humane arrangement.