Nurses to receive psychological services
An industrial psychologist has been appointed to assist nurses in Gauteng following complaints by patients about shoddy treatment at state hospitals.
The health department said the psychologist’s first posting would be at Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital, where nurses will be assisted on how to manage, among other issues, challenging patients, diversity, cultural differences and language diversity.
The move comes in the wake of rising complaints of poor treatment by patients at state hospitals. At the same time hospital staff, mostly nurses, say they are overwhelmed by the high numbers of people requiring assistance.
“This will be augmented by improving employee wellness program, and counselling for nurses to help them debrief. More specialist nurses will be appointed, while nursing interns will work as ward clerks, in order to alleviate workload from professional nurses, so they can focus on clinical work,” the department said on Thursday.
A survey would be conducted on a quarterly basis, instead of conducting it annually, as part of the department’s efforts to guarantee patient satisfaction.
The survey would focus on issues such as cleanliness, staff attitude, availability of medical supplies and food, the explanation of medical conditions and availability of nurses and doctors at all times, the department said.
“We trust this paradigm shift will be felt in how our nurses render services and it will be easy to pick up which areas and hospitals need intervention from the patient’s survey. Staff attitude is a work in progress, we therefore plead for cooperation from the public,” said health MEC Qedani Mahlangu.
The psychologist would then move on to Tembisa and Mamelodi hospitals respectively.