Significance of Nurses Week celebration

Dr Yumnam Sundary *

'Capping and Lamp Lighting Ceremony' of State Government, School of Nursing at Lamphelpat :: Pix - Shankar Kh/Deepak Oinam

International Council of Nurses (ICN) is operated by Nurses and leading Nursing internationally. ICN works to ensure quality Nursing care for all and sound health policies globally.

ICN chooses a theme each year to celebrate International Nurses Day. Their 2017 - 2019 campaign, Nurses : A VOICE TO LEAD, focused on the need for Nurses to become more active and vocal in policy development and implementation. The resources and evidence deal with critical issues of the time and highlight the many ways in which Nurses are making an impact.

2017- Nurses A VOICE TO LEAD ACHIEVING THE SDGs,

2018-Nurses A VOICE TO LEAD HEALTH IS HUMAN RIGHT

2019- A VOICE TO LEAD HEALTH FOR ALL

Nurses are essential in transforming health care and health system such that no person is left behind without access to care and impoverished because of their need for healthcare. ''HEALTH FOR ALL'' means not just the availability of health services, but a complete state of physical and mental health that enables a person to lead a socially and economically productive life.

Becoming 'A VOICE TO LEAD' means talking to Govt., community leaders, policy makers and investors, and to make them aware of the need of one to have optimum health. Nursing is the largest health care profession in the world and Nurses are the key of achieving the MDGs. Because Nurses are well trained and educated for maintaining the health and wellness of the patients through all the aspects like psychosocially, socially and etc.

Nurses have deep practical knowledge of delivering best health care services. National Nurses Association (NNA) play an vibrant role in making Nurses take well informed advice, encouraging and supporting them to deliver better work. NNAs works with the Govt. and private sectors to gear up the health care delivery system thus creating a large gate way for Nurses contribution.

International Council of Nurses celebrates this, even aiming to increase the public awareness about the Nursing professionals and Nurses contribution towards the health care innovation. Nurses are the fast and first point of contacting for health services. Nurses are innovatively trained to provide free health checkup for the vulnerable groups indicating their willingness of improving health.

And also they try to meet all the local needs to improve the physical, mental wellbeing of the patient. Throughout, the care given by the Nurses can balance the mind, body and spirit of the patient, family and society. IND (International Nurses day) is celebrated every year all around the world on 12th May to commemorate the birth anniversary of the Florence Nightingale and to mark the Nurses contribution towards peoples' health.

'' A VOICE TO LEAD HEALTH FOR ALL'' is the theme of International Nurses Week Celebration as per(ICN). The theme aims to have 4 million reasons to celebrate. Because Health is the fundamental birth right of every individual regardless of their cast, creed, religion, age, sex and etc.

International Council Of Nurses (ICN) code of ethics states that 'inherent in Nursing care is a respect for human rights, including cultural rights, the right to life and choice to dignity and to be treated with respect.

Nursing care is respectful of an unrestricted by consideration of age, colour, culture, disability or illness, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, politics, race or social status. Nurses render health service to the individual, the family and the community and coordinate their services with those of related groups. The need for Nursing is universal (ICN 2012)

A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity (WHO). Good health is the centre for handling stress and living a long and active life by an individual. Health can be defined as physical, mental, and social wellbeing, and as resource for living a full life.

It refers not only to the absence of diseases, but the ability to recover and bounce back from illness and other problems . Nurses are vital component in the health care system as well as her contribution towards the health care system is beyond the horizon.

According to the scope of Nursing profession, Nurses provide appropriate, accessible and evidence- based care. For "HEALTH FOR ALL" to be achieved and there must be a transformation in the approach to health and well being with a core roles as a patient advocate, their scientific reasoning skills, numbers and spectrum of care across the continuum, Nurses are ideally placed to lead and inform health services decision making and policy development.

As one of the most trusted and respected health professions, Nursing has a pivotal role in addressing the multiple health challenges that are being faced all over the world. Nurses are the powerhouse of the health care system and are required to respond to the health needs of individuals, communities and the world.

Nurses can provide care with compassion without prescription. Quality Nursing care provided by the well trained Nurses can balance the mind, body and spirit not for the patient themselves but also the whole family.

Nurses should keep these quality not only in her service span but all through out her life span. There is the need to strengthen the Nursing service both in the state and central Govt. sectors in the state by filling up the higher vacant posts of Nursing cadres.

The present Govt. has created a new post of Registrar, Manipur Nursing Council the one and only licensing body for Nursing in the state. This is one of the forward step for the Govt's concern about the welfare of the Nurses. At the same time RIMS, Hospital also need to fill up the vacant posts of Nursing officers which have been laying vacant since many years.

The Chief Nursing officer is the key role for balancing the gaps between the theory and practice which is very much lacking in the state. It is the time to take a prompt action by the concerned authority for better Nursing service in the state as a whole.

The post is already being created in RIMS, Hospital, Imphal but it has been kept vacant since so many years because the post will be filled up by promotion. RIMS authority need to create a new policy for appointing the prestigious post for the Nurses .