Student or trainee nurses going through their training in nursing colleges

Coming from a family that have members who are doctors and nurses, I have a healthy respect for the medical and nursing professions, especially when they hold sharp pointed needles in their hands. “All the better to jab you with, my dear,” so I would think. Of course, their aim is to make your illness go away and not hurt you intentionally. Doctors and nurses are after all good caring people.

Today, doctors still retain a high profile image. The medical field remains one of the top options for students to choose as a successful and lucrative career. But sadly enough, nurses appear to be on the decline, in terms of quality and quantity.

“There is an urgent need to improve the image of the nursing profession and make it attractive to school leavers looking for a vocation in life,” said Dr. Yao Sik Chi, Director of Health, Sarawak (former), at a nursing seminar held in Sibu. The Malaysian Nurses Association (MNA) concurs by stating that the quality and service of nursing at government hospitals have declined over the last 15 years.

The drop in standard could be attributed to the training programme at nursing colleges. A decade ago, the average ratio of tutors to student/ trainee urses
was 1:35 but now it is 1:100. The ideal ratio is 1:20. Good academic achievement is also necessary to produce quality nurses. According to Rasidah Mohamed, Head of the Nursing Programme at the Community Health Department of the Faculty of Medicine & Health Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), some of the student nurses came from vocational schools and it was a struggle for them to attend lectures on microbiology or pediatrics.

Caring remains the essence of nursing

A survey conducted by the Health Management Institute indicated that only 44% out of 2,000 trainee nurses in public institutions passed their courses. Another contributing factor to the decline falls on the category of students accepted into nursing colleges. Puteri Nursing College, a private college, has 3 groups of students – (1) those sponsored by the Ministry of Health, (2) those sponsored by respective employers and (3) those who are self-financed.

Gerontology nursing will be in great demand with an increasing aging population

It was found that the grades and academic performances from the last two groups were considerably better than the first group who are funded by the Ministry of Health.

“Self-financed students usually take their studies seriously. When something comes for free, it is often not appreciated,” expressed Noriah Ahmad, Head of the Nursing Programme at the Faculty of Health Science, Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM).

Some of the recommendations to help minimize the high failure rate of trainee nurses include the following:

� Allow those who excel to convert their scholarships into grants

� Persuade repeat failures to consider other vocations

� Upgrade the salaries of tutors

� Ensure equal ethnic composition in the intake of trainee nurses

� Convert the monthly trainee allowances into loans to boost examination performance

Currently there are close to 40,000 nurses in Malaysia of which 75% are employed by Ministry of Health. In order to meet the nurse to people ratio of 1:200 of a d e v e l o p e d country, the nation needs 170,000 nurses by 2020 to provide adequate healthcare for a projected population of 34 million.

At present, the ratio in Malaysia is 1:645 as compared to United States (US) at 1:102, Japan at 1:134, United Kingdom (UK) at 1:201, Singapore at 1:203 and Korea at 1:343.

The decreasing number of nurses in the country is attributed to the outflow of nurses from poorer to richer countries and from developing to developed nations, who could offer better numerations.

Computer knowledge or IT is a necessary skill to acquire in any field today

“I understand that at least 1,000 Malaysian-registered nurses are now working overseas, half of them in the Middle East,” revealed YB Dato’ Dr. Chua Soi Lek, Minister of Health.

To counteract the outflow, the government is going to increase student intake in the future. At present, Malaysia has an annual output of about 3,000 nurses of which 2,000 comes from the 18 nursing colleges under the Ministry of Health, and 1,000 comes from the 16 private colleges and 5 universities nationwide.

To further encourage student intakes in the nursing profession, more attractive remuneration and benefits will be offered, the existing colleges will be upgraded and new nursing colleges will be completed under the Eighth Malaysia Plan (2001-2005). For the upcoming Ninth Malaysia Plan (2006-2010), 5 new nurse-training centres will be built in Perak, Johor Bahru, Alor Star, Sabah and Kuching.

The Minister of Health encourages more non-Malays to enter the nursing profession as a multi-racial country like Malaysia requires a broad spectrum of representation to look after patients from diverse ethnic backgrounds and cultures. Currently, the nurses in the Ministry of Health are composed of 85.4% Malays, 5.5% Chinese, 3.5% Indians and 5.6% other races including non-Malay bumiputras.

It is duly important to establish close rapport and understanding between nurses and patients to expedite and facilitate the process of care giving and health recovery.

“In the new millennium, the health sector will continue to face many new challenges amongst which will be new infectious diseases like SARS and avian flu as well as providing more healthcare services for chronic lifestyle diseases such as heart diseases, strokes, cancers, diabetes mellitus, substance abuse, violence and road traffic accidents,” warns YB Dato’ Dr. Chua Soi Lek.

A nurse education does not end with graduation, but continues throughout the career

It is therefore imperative for a new breed of nurses to emerge, possessing these commendable traits in a noble lifelong career of the nursing profession:

� Acquire skills on how to protect self from infection while nursing the sick

� Acquire necessary competency to educate, influence and promote health behavior among the people and patients encountered

� Continue to update self throughout career, particularly in the field of clinical nursing practice

� Be involved in and do research that could contribute to better nursing practice

� Be IT-savvy, a valuable asset for accessing information widely available in scientific journals and virtual libraries on the internet

� Be caring - it is the caring behaviour and practices that distinguish nursing from the other professions.

How to become a nurse:

Career opportunities for a nurse: