By Farah Ahmadnawi
The nursing profession represents the true depths of human compassion with a combination of physical and social sciences, nursing theory and technology in providing care and attention to sick individuals.
This observation was made in a sabda delivered by Her Royal Highness Princess Hajah Rashidah Sa'adatul Bolkiah during the official opening ceremony for the 9th Biennial International Nursing Conference.
Her Royal Highness said that the dynamic field of healthcare practice and research is not only based upon scientific study but upon contemporary and traditional cultures. Nurses were urged to take lead on their own, adopt best practices and be innovative in applying their knowledge and skills in respective clinics.
"Both mainstream and minority subcultures are now given due consideration in order to deliver more culturally sensitive and competent nursing care," Her Royal Highness stated.
Her Royal Highness also said, "A nurse's care for individuals must focus upon those who are both healthy and ill, of all ages and backgrounds, and who have physical, emotional, psychological and even intellectual, social and spiritual needs."
Her Royal Highness spoke of the approach for sheer diversity of skills taken by the Pengiran Anak Puteri Rashidah Sa'adatul Bolkiah Institute of Health Sciences which has adopted the multi-disciplinary method to teaching such as incorporating skills and knowledge provided by other professions.
"The objective is to provide our future nurses with an inter-professional education that employs learning alongside with students from other health disciplines in order to sow the seeds for better teamwork and collaboration with other health professionals in their future careers," Her Royal Highness continued.
"We hope that our nurses will strive to keep learning and share their knowledge with their peers and not lose sight of the fact that nursing is not just a skilled profession, but is also a duty, upon which the lives and well-being of members of their communities depend on."
Her Royal Highness concluded her sabda by expressing her confidence in the conference, themed "Developing Clinical Academia and Clinical Leadership", will serve as a conducive platform for all stakeholders to share experiences and, knowledge and skills as well as find ways to collaborate further in healthcare education and research.
"Through greater cooperation, we hope to achieve the aim of the nursing community worldwide to ensure quality care for all by maintaining nursing credentials, code of ethics, standards and competencies through continual education," Her Royal Highness expressed.
Meanwhile, in a speech by the dean of Pengiran Anak Puteri Rashidah Sa'adatul Bolkiah Institute of Health Sciences, the objective of the event is to cater for the different learning styles of our students and the ever changing needs of society.
Over 500 local, regional and international participants comprising students, midwifery students, midwives and other health professionals will be joining the conference with international speakers from the USA, United Kingdom, Australia, Kuwait and the Philippines.
The conference will cover sub-theme areas such as innovation in teaching and learning, graduate attributes to fitting the cultural context, benchmarking clinical education, bridging the practice theory gap, curriculum and health service partnership, using evidence to improve patient outcomes and practice development in workplace culture.
- Borneo Bulletin
(3rd November 2010)
