Be it the Covid ICU (left) or the regular Cardiac Care Unit (Right) the nurses are always there to take care.

The month of May is important for healthcare professionals. The first reason being the World Hand Hygiene Day, which falls on May 5th and the second is the International Nurses Day on May 12th. In this article we will be focusing on how nursing as a profession is being practiced at SSSIHMS, Prasanthigram, and also look at the role of the department of Microbiology and the  nurses in educating and implementing hand hygiene in the hospital.

The International Nurses Day is celebrated across the world on May 12 every year in  remembrance of the birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing and also to honour the nurses for their tireless effort and contribution towards humankind.

A theme is decided every year to celebrate the Nurses’ Day and many events and activities are organized worldwide.

Apart from doctors, nurses play an important role in medical institutions by providing adequate care to patients so that they can heal soon and go back to leading a normal life. They work in stressful environments, risking their own health and lives for the sake of others. This cannot be emphasized enough, as during the Covid pandemic, according to the WHO, 1,15,000 healthcare workers worldwide, who were mainly nurses lost their lives serving the covid infected patients.

To provide the honour and the respect to such sacrifices made by nurses, the International Council of Nurses (ICN) celebrates the International Nursing Week from May 6th to May 12th every year.

Florence Nightingale was a statistician and a social reformer from England. She brought a revolution in medical field when she significantly reduced number of deaths by improving the hygiene and living standards of the injured soldiers during the Crimean war. She gave a favorable reputation to nursing and was often referred to as the “Lady with a lamp”, as she used to visit wounded soldiers at night with a lamp in her hand. The ICN announced the theme for International Nurses’ Day this year as “Our Nurses, Our Future”.

 Nursing at SSSIHMS, Prasanthigram, Puttaparthi

Following the principles of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, the concept of “Love All and Serve All”, SSSIHMS, Puttaparthi serves patients in need, in a holistic approach. This involves treating and taking care of the patient as a whole - which involves physical, social, environmental, cultural, psychological, and spiritual aspects.

The nursing department of SSSIHMS, Prasanthigram has all the facilities with organizational policies and procedures for better patient care and outcome. The nursing department follows strictly the rules and regulations for the recruitment and orientation. The HR policy is well explained to the new nurses and they undergo continuous skill development, in-service education and effective infection control education.

Nursing at Swami’s hospital is unique in many ways. Bhagawan has always said that we should treat every patient who enters our hospital as our own kith and kin. This aspect has been passed on from the senior nurses to junior nurses and is also an essential aspect of the nurses’ training and orientation. The moment we believe that the patient is our own family member our attitude towards their care undergoes a complete transformation. In our hospital, we, as a convention, address patients by their names or in case of elders with the cultural honorifics and not with the disease, which they are suffering from. The patients on many occasions told us that they had visited many hospitals and everywhere they were addressed either by their disease name or their bed number, but in Swami’s hospital they actually felt being treated like a human being and even better, as a family member.

Also when the nurses make it a point during their shift to go and speak to the patients and try to know more about their background, their culture. During the conversation they try to assuage any apprehensions and answer questions that the patients may have regarding their treatment. This is apart from the counselling the nurses do during the pre-op and post-op phase.   

This is of utmost importance because uneducated patients or those belonging to poor families do not feel comfortable asking questions or do not know how to articulate their thoughts. By speaking to them, nurses are able to clarify all their doubts. This helps the patient become mentally ready to receive the treatment. It also helps them follow the post-op instructions after they leave the hospital. In today’s times this may be called as counselling, but in Swami’s hospital it goes much deeper.

It is no wonder that on many occasions we hear our patients saying that they have been taken care better than their own parents would. The relationship this forges between the patient and the hospital lasts for a lifetime.

We do not take any credit for this as we believe this is Swami’s Grace showering on us. It is He who uses us as His instruments. 

Education and implementation of Hand Hygiene at SSSIHMS, Prasanthigram

The Covid pandemic brought to the fore the importance of hand hygiene like never before. It was during this time that people at large began to understand that a simple act of keeping the hands clean could literally save lives. While hand hygiene had always been at the top of the agenda for healthcare professionals across the globe, the pandemic drove home the importance of the same to the common people.

At SSSIHMS, Prasanthigram, we have a Hospital Infection Control Committee (HICC), with the Director as its Chairman Head of Department of Microbiology as Member secretary and Head of Departments of all the clinical and non-clinical departments,  Nursing administrator, Nurse Educator and the Infection Control Nurse as members. 

This committee is responsible for education and implementation of hand hygiene in the hospital. As a routine there are structured didactic sessions about hand hygiene for the entire hospital. These sessions encompass all the staff members - clinical and non-clinical alike. Further it is taken forward by the nurses and the department in-charges in their respective departments. 

During the pre-op counselling, patients and their attendants are taught the importance of hand hygiene and the steps of hand washing and personal hygiene.  In the wards the nurses make sure that in a given cubicle each patient and their attendants know all the steps of hand washing. Further, the Nursing Administrator and the Infection Control Nurse pick staff members randomly and ask them to show all the steps of hand washing. A special emphasis is placed on the staff who would be in direct contact with the patients.  Hand hygiene is also a part of the orientation program of new recruits to the hospital.  This is now a part of the culture of the hospital. 

Every month the HICC meets and hospital wide infection rate, hand hygiene compliance, clinical specialty wise infection rate and other infection control quality indicators are discussed. After the meeting feedback with suggestions are given to each department for compliance. HICC also ensures staff safety by ensuring vaccination and immediate action towards needle stick injuries. 

Periodic audits are conducted speciality wise to check compliance. 

At SSSIHMS, Puttaparthi, all the doctors, clinical and non-clinical staff, administrators, and the nursing department work as a family to achieve the goal of making Swami happy.