Nurse recruitment ‘hugely successful’, union reports
Gerald Fenech The recent campaign which has been hitting the airwaves and billboards to attract more people to nursing has had an immediate effect, a representative from the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses told MaltaToday.
“The campaign has so far left quite a positive impact, so much so that the visits to our website have increased by 600%. People are phoning every day enquiring and asking for more information. Facebook has had its impact too, as we are receiving a number of emails enquiring on this campaign. Billboards are very effective media to portray such information and the response has been quite remarkable,” Vince Saliba, the union’s education officer said.
Saliba himself has been a nurse for over 30 years and came into the profession after following his sisters’ footsteps.
“Besides being inspired by my older sisters, the three of whom are nurses, I always felt that nursing is something concerning altruism, giving to others the courage, help and care they need. After 30 years in nursing, it still excites me to know that I am part of a team helping patients to regain their strength. The feeling one experiences when observing patients fighting death and eventually walking out of your ward alive and kicking is indescribable.”
Saliba says the profession has its obvious ups and downs: indeed, long working hours perhaps makes it one of the least attractive aspects of the job.
One nurse who spoke on condition of anonymity said the public often underestimates nursing. “Many patients in our hospitals don’t really distinguish between nurses, health assistants, nursing aides and care workers and see the four jobs as the same thing.”
After years of demands from the nursing body, the government wants to recruit 240 new nurses by 2012. But the target falls short of that touted by nurses’ union boss Paul Pace, who claims the health system requires 1,000 nurses by 2013.
Since the migration to Mater Dei three years ago, the MUMN has called on government to act fast on the shortage of nurses.
Saliba insists that nursing shortages are being felt in many parts of the world, but rich countries do not see this as a threat, as they have enough finance to employ nurses from around the world and are ready to pay high salaries to attract them.
“Unfortunately, locally the situation is completely different. However one has to say that government is committed to allocate a budget for health and one needs to use that budget diligently to provide all the health services we know today.”
Making matters worse is the fact that a number of nurses who applied for the nursing course at the Institute of Healthcare last year were actually refused entry by the University of Malta, mainly due to logistical reasons and limited manpower in the nursing education sector.
The total number of nurses employed in various grades in all government hospitals, health centres and other services was 2466 at end 2009.
President George Abela has also weighed in on the issue, suggesting the formation of a task force steered from the Office of the Prime Minister which should include all stakeholders, including the Ministry of Health, MUMN and the University of Malta.
“This task force will be brainstorming the problem,” Saliba said. “We cannot keep pointing fingers at each other on this issue, but collaborate to find the best sensible solutions.”
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