Catch Them Young!
02 May, 2022: Student level the best time to equip young nurses and midwives to become leaders.
NONM South West Zone says the student level is the best time to groom nurses to become effective leaders.
South West Zone chairperson, Duncan Kwaitana, said this in Blantyre at a workshop about effective leadership late April.
In an interview Kwaitana said it is some of these students who will take leadership roles someday.
“They say it’s good to start from the nursery so we regard the training as the starting point so from there we felt duty bound to impart in them leadership skills,” said Kwaitana.
He also added that as future leaders they will guide their staff better if they also know how to do the required job.
“You can only supervise well if you know the basics in nursing and these include moping, dump dusting, cleaning what have you” he added.
Aside from the workshop, the students’ chapter, led by NONM leaders, also did charity work at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, where they cleaned children’s wards.
NONM student’s chapter president, Rashid Lyland, said the exercise is a good reminder to nurses of their role in caring for patient’s which includes making sure the environment is clean.
He said: “I would like to remind the nurses that we are supposed to know what our roles are as nurses of which one of them is making sure that the environment where our patients are living is clean to prevent them from infections.”