Me too‘ASST of Leccofor the first time, celebrates with its own initiative, involving the students of the Bicocca Degree Course hosted on site, the International Nurses Day which this year falls on the same day as Mother’s Day, May 12th.
Also for this, “We nourish health” is the slogan chosen by FNOPI for the 2024 edition of the initiative, promoted consistently to promote and contribute to enhancing the profession. “We wanted to seize this opportunity – explained the president of the Federation Barbara Mangiacavalli – to return to the origin of the etymological root of the Anglo-Saxon term Nurse which derives from the Latin Nutrix and refers to the concept of nutrition, of taking care of those in need. This is what the nurse does in her daily activity.”
A concept also reiterated at a local level by Maddalena Castelnuovo and Chiara Airoldiwho spoke as spokespersons for their colleagues at the inauguration of the themed exhibition set up in the hall of the Manzoni Hospital.
“I have been working in ASST for 5 years, currently in Paediatrics” said the first, underlining the importance of the figure of the nurse for taking care of the patient and insisting on the English verb “to care”, also underlining how taking care is often associated only with the situation of illness while also operating in the field of awareness and prevention, those who carry out their work are also a point of reference for the healthy population.
Making a brief reference to the situation experienced during the pandemic and the critical issues at community level that emerged, Maddalena also cited the figure of the family nurse, as a future outlet for an evolving profession, even though the stereotype persists, clearly no longer up to speed with the times and debasement of the profession, of the accessory nurse compared to the doctor. “We are instead a figure with our own skills and we work in a complementary way with the others”, the claim. Also reiterated by Giorgio Berettahead of the Corporate Department of Health and Social Health Professions.
“We are no longer ancillary to anyone. We need professionals like nurses” he said, in fact, focusing on the difficulties in finding such figures, in Lecco as in the rest of Italy, which the ASST tries to deal with by activating all the channels that can be activated and continuously announcing competitions (the next for the coverage of 60 places is expected next week and it is not the only one already open), and then goes on to explain how the “sacrifice” of having to close beds during the summer period in order to guarantee holiday planning is to be framed not in a “whim”, but in the need to preserve the quality of care, thus providing safe care to patients.
“As mentioned, the slogan chosen by FNOPI for the Day is “Let’s nourish health”. I think of the English verb “to fit”, which is not limited to nourishing but implies taking care of. The nurse takes care of the patient” added Chiara Airoldi, who has been with ASST since 2010, in the operating block (although she is now seconded to administration as she is pregnant). It was thus underlined that the nurse is the figure who takes care not only of the patient’s physical needs but also of the emotional ones, also dealing with “social” aspects, thus establishing a relationship of trust in favor of a therapeutic alliance, then personalizing the assistance based on the needs of the individual, with an empathetic approach. “I would like the figure of the nurse to be more valorised, inside and outside the hospital. And that more students would approach this profession.”
The trend, however, in enrollments in dedicated degree courses is negative, as explained by Beretta. Work is losing appeal, due to a lack of adequate economic recognition and the lack of career paths, with those already in service called upon to make sacrifices to guarantee coverage in a situation of shortage.
There show which in these days is proposed in the entrance hall of the Manzoni was instead created, as anticipated, precisely by involving the students enrolled in the second and third year of the Degree Course in Nursing of the Department of Medicine and Surgery of the University of Milan Bicocca which is held at the ASST of Lecco.
As argued by Lucia Rosa Olivadotiresponsible for the project, they were offered a workshop day during which over 50 posters were produced, using the technique of visual poetry, a tool which, with an apparently naive language, combines word and image to transmit messages.
Specifically, the students focused on 4 themes: helping to develop a culture of safety, working in teams for patient safety, communicating effectively for patient safety, recognizing risks, responding to and communicating adverse events.
They have thus learned good practices which can then be transferred to colleagues when they join the department.
