The roles of a Kenyan nurse

English 102

Hesbon ogeka

ENG101

2/26/12

Annotated Bibliography

 Roles of a Kenyan nurses have always been an interest to me. So since I am in a nursing major, researching the roles of Kenyan nurses has been my first priority. My search started by logging in onto EBSCO databases. I typed in the words “what are the roles of a Kenyan nurse”? It provided me with different types of articles. The first article that I chose was “nursing the sick,” This article didn’t have much about the roles of a nurse. It talked about the problems the patients have and how to cater for them.  The second article I chose had all I was looking for about the roles of a nurse, but not in Kenya. I didn’t stop there. I kept on with my research on EBSCO and other resources for more information. I went through hundreds of articles, but I wasn’t successful with my research. I went to the librarians for help in finding the right article, but they didn’t find any. I decided to try search using different phrases “Nursing in Africa” it actually provided me with two articles. One was “palliative care in Africa,” It talked about how to provide equal care for the patients. The second one was “roles of a nurse” It really didn’t have much information, but I felt that my quest had come to an end.

Then I went through all my three articles and compared them. With other countries like, United States America and England, I came to my conclusion that Kenyan nursing is poor and it needs more improvement by educating nurses and updating equipment.

Wangi, Powell. “An exciting new era for palliative care in Africa” international journey of nursing, 2004 volume 10.No 8.

http://www.who.int/cancer/palliative/africanproject/en/index.html

In the article “An exciting new era for palliative care in Africa”, Powel Wangi focuses on quality of life of patients and their families who are faced with serious illnesses like HIV/AIDS and cancer in Africa. It also focuses on increasing comfort through prevention and treatment of distressing symptoms, clear communication, advance planning, and coordination of care. All people are equally entitled to get this care, No matter what color the person is, their tribe or wherever they live, they have a right to receive the care. According to the article, “many people in Africa really do not have access to analgesic drugs such as paracetamal or aspirin. Many of them have never heard of the concept of palliative care,” It is hoped that through the African Palliative Care Organization, they will be able to show the quality palliative care is possible within the different African setting” Many African countries have begun the project of palliative care in Africa, which is a great thing to do for people.

The purpose of this article is to inform the world that the African countries are ready to provide proper care for all the patients and teach nurses and doctors the importance of palliative care.

This article is really good. I found it in EBSCO databases. It’s really useful resource when focusing on how to take care of patients in Africa when you are a nurse. It also shows how many people in Africa are so poor that they can’t afford to buy medicine. It also shows how the opportunity has been opened to nurses who want to work the health facilities. (Job recreation)

John, Michael F (2004) APCA newsletter June. The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, London.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1955370/

“Developing a Nursing Database System in Kenya”   aims of the nursing workforce in Kenya, including recent trends and dynamics, and describes the involvement of stakeholders, both within and beyond Kenya, in the development of nursing and the nursing workforce. Kenya’s case is unique. Over the past decade, it has been reported that there are over 7,000 unemployed nurses. Over 1,300 new nurses graduate annually from local colleges. At the same time, almost every functional health facility is understaffed with over 500 of Kenya’s 2,122 (2007) dispensaries throughout the country did not have a single nurse. In addition, averages of 500 nurses have been retiring annually at age 55 and between 300-400 nurses migrate abroad annually.

Key factors responsible for the shortage of nurses at service delivery points include fast-expanding health care delivery network that also experiences inadequate recruitment and mal- distribution of staff. Contributing to the shortage are an aging nursing workforce, lack of proper workforce planning that includes skills analysis and distribution, and lack of up-to-date, accurate and comprehensive data sets to assist in remedying the workforce planning situation.

The response to these challenging trends in recruitment, training, and retention of staff has involved a range of policy developments. This article is really interesting and it shows how Kenya as a country is not capable of paying and employing more nurses. I found this article on EBSCO databases, it also contains reference to some of the sources that you can find more information from.

Micah, Matiangi. “The role of a Nurse in the Health care team in Kenya” health care (2011): 1-6.

http://www.ichrn.com/publications/casestudies/ICHRN_Kenya_CaseStudy.pdf

In the article “nursing care for the sick” Matiangi Micah is giving the basic understanding of what is the role of a Kenyan nurse and how they work with patients. This article explains how they will deliver care within the boundaries of their role, focusing upon supporting patients to be healthy, monitoring of long-term conditions, health prevention and screening activities. It discusses how they will work collaboratively with the general practice team to meet the needs of patients, supporting the delivery of policy and procedures, and providing nurse leadership as required.

This article is incredibly helpful. I found it on the EBSCO database and it contains reference resources. This article gives the clear picture of how to handle a patient or anyone who cannot take care of her/himself whether in a nursing home or a home care setting. This article will be useful when focusing on the roles of a Kenyan nurse.

Research log

                                                      

Research log

The first log I started to write the Idea from 1/28/2012. I researched all day long because that was the easy way I could do it. At the same time, I was doing other homework from different classes. It took me about three hours. Also that takes so much time to look for the topic that I wanted and came up with the idea of Nursing in Kenya with the help of my teacher. Also I made a web map with the topic and put nursing in Kenya in the middle. After that I broke it into three five topics. That took me about two days and I finished typing my paper 2/1/2012 and I ended up finishing organizing everything. At the same day that I finished my work I meet the tutor to go through it.

2

I will start working on research #2in about a week. I will make sure everything is done as soon as possible because I have homework from other classes and studying at the same time. Also I will complete log 1. I will start answering the question first and get the details if possible. Next I will have a tutor check the second project.

3

I will be working on this log and start project three as soon as possible. The way I do it is to keep working because research #4 is due March 21. Also I will keep working on this project every other day.

4

I will start as soon as possible and work on finding a list of sources for a week or more, so that I can have time to check my mistakes. Meanwhile I will always do other homework and come back to it later.  After that I will take my work to the Success Center for revision.

Research questions

• ·         What is the Kenya vision for nursing?
• ·         What is there mission statement?
• ·         What is their background information?
• ·         What is the current training programs being offered
• ·         Basic diploma
• ·         In-service basic diploma
• ·         What are the minimum entry requirements?
• ·         Post Basic Diploma Programs
• ·         Minimum Entry Requirements (Post Basic Diploma)
• ·         Future plans for the Faculty.
• ·         Job Opportunities
• ·         What is the problem that the nurses are facing?
• ·         How are they treated by their boss?
• ·         How do they serve the patients?

Nursing 101

                                      Why I Want To Be a Nurse

What is nursing

“Nursing is the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations.”

Nursing includes a range of specialties and definitions that vary from country to country. According to the International Council of Nurses, "Nursing encompasses autonomous and collaborative care of individuals of all ages, families, groups and communities, sick or well and in all settings. Nursing includes the promotion of health, prevention of illness, and the care of ill, disabled and dying people. Advocacy, promotion of a safe environment, research, participation in shaping health policy and in patient and health systems management, and education are also key nursing roles."

Why am interested in nursing

During my sophomore year in high school I had no plans on going to college. All of that changed during my junior year when I took biology class and chemistry and biology that is when I first became self-confident and I started believing in myself. I saw a lot of improvement in my grades and I became interested in these sciences. In fall of 2011 I became the first person from my family to go to college.

My grandfather always used to say to me “nothing in life is easy if it’s worth having,” and I am just so sad that he can’t see me now, turning away from the easy  path towards one I know will bring a lifetime of challenges and fulfillment. I always respected him and have tried to make my entire family proud of me. I am the first person from my working class family to go to college, and while I am proud of accomplishing this goal, which was by no means easy financially or emotionally, my career path after high school graduation has not been as fulfilling as I was hoping it would be. But I never lose hope. And now I am out for life long education.

I originally became interested in the health care field at a very early age because my mother was an assistant nurse and I spent considerable time in my childhood observing her at work. I was attracted to the idea of helping people with physical problems, although I had no thought about any specific specialty. However, in time physical therapy became the logical focus of my attention for a number of reasons. For one, I have memories from a very young age of my grandfather in Kenya, disabled by a stroke, his problems unmitigated by any attempts at physical therapy. I will never forget the devastating consequences of this.

Now I have decided to be a nurse. I will be a healthcare professional who is focused on caring for individuals, families, and communities, ensuring that they attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and functioning. As nurses, I will be capable of assessing, planning, implementing, and evaluating care independently of physicians, and I will help provide support from basic triage to emergency surgery. I may practice in hospitals, clinics, physician offices, private homes, schools, pharmaceutical companies, private industry, schools, cruise ships, retirement homes, hospice facilities, long-term care facilities, military facilities, and even camps. Or I may also advice and work as a consultant in healthcare. I can work full- or part-time, and may work as a traveling nurse for various organizations like the United Nations.

My duty as a nurse is to assist individuals in performing activities that contribute to health, recovery, or peaceful death, activities which the patients would perform if they had the strength, will, or knowledge required. I want to prevent cases like my grandfather’s death, because he didn’t have good nursing care. I will also strive to achieve the best possible quality of life for the patients, regardless of disease or disability. I will use proper clinical judgment to protect, promote, and optimize health, prevent illness and injury, alleviate suffering, and advocate in health care for individuals, families, communities, and populations.

Nursing is more than a profession of integrity and compassion, it is a privilege that carries out my values as a human being and the responsibilities granted to me.

Research question

What is a role of a Kenyan nurse?

What is the role of a Kenyan nurse? The role of a Kenyan nurse is to provide care for the patient, work with doctors, protect the patient, teach the patient and family and advocate for the patient and family.

Kenyan nurses care for patients continuously, 24 hours a day. They help the patient to do what they could do for themselves if they could. They care for the patients, making sure that they can breathe properly, helping patients sleep, and making sure that they are comfortable. They take care of their elimination of waste. Nurses know each patient’s diseases.

Kenyan nurses play a big role not only giving medical care to patients but also by giving comfort and support to the patient and his or her family. When the patient cannot recover, the nurse helps to make sure that the death is peaceful. When a person becomes ill or is injured, he goes through the nurse to see the doctor and then the doctor only deals with the main problem after the nurse has admitted the patient and managed their care.

            Nurses carry out many of the treatments prescribed to the patient. For example, the nurse helps the doctor during surgery in the operation room. The nurse might inject the patient with the drugs prescribed to the patient. The nurse changes the patient’s dressing and monitors the healing of the wound. The nurse also administers medication for the pain.

                Nurses also monitor the patient’s progress to make sure that the recovery has no complications. Nurses mostly find problems in patients because they usually have more frequent contact with them than anyone else. The nurse also plans and supervises the care given by nursing assistants, checks on the work of housekeeping staff assigned to clean the patient's room, and ensures that the patient gets enough healthy food.

            The information that I still want to know about nursing in Kenya is how people get qualified to become nurses in Kenya. What is the main procedure to be admitted in Kenya nursing schools? What are the minimum entry requirements? Are there good job opportunities for qualified nurses?

            There are so many ways to collect information for my project. First is communication. Communication is the most important way to collect information within my project. I will make phone calls to communicate with friends whom I know are nurses in Kenya. I will send them emails seeking more information because emails are the probably the easiest and cheapest communication tool that is available for me. I will text, ask for recorded audio and videos and I will use instant massaging to reach people for help. I will also use internet boards. I will also try to reach the Kenyan nurses living in USA and meet face to face to collect the information from them.

nursing in kenya

                                                        BRAIN STORMING
                    WHAT SHOULD I WRITE IN MY RESEARCH BIOG


 

i am interested in nursing and here is my journey for my research. my research has been not that much easier but i can see more progress each day as i do it. i hard a lazy thought the other day, why do i need to do research in  nursing yet there are a ton of things that i should be doing or you many be asking your self  why am i not doing a different research other than the nursing. well, these are all important questions. Why don't we know the answers to them? 

You might say that we know the answer to some of those questions. I would say that we probably know part of the answer to some but we don't know the whole answer to any of them. But does that matter? I think it does.

you may be having so many questions ringing in your mind, what is a nurse and what is nursing. First we need to understand the meaning of nursing.  Nursing is the profession or practice for providing care for sick and infirm and a nurse is a person trained to take care for the sick or infirm in hospital or home.

nursing it isn't that easy. Nurses are the ones that know the patients the best; they know what has been working for them and what does not. The findings that they obtain from doing research will provide them with a strong foundation to what they do everyday for there patients. they will have evidence-based data to utilize new ways to assess, evaluate, and deliver nursing care. Research will allow professional growth by supplying them with the most accurate tools and opportunities to advance the specialty where they work. On a personal level, it will create a leadership characteristic for yourself. You are the nurse that co-workers will go to mentor them and find concrete answers. It is not acceptable anymore to just say, “Well, this is the way it has always been done!”