Manual on law for nurses advocated
Mr Felix Nyante, the Registrar of the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Ghana, has called on the Council to provide nurses with a manual that relates to nursing and midwives basic issues on law in nursing practices.
He said the manual, which would be funded by the council would help nurses and midwives to have in depth knowledge in law and ethics concerning their profession before they graduate.
“Not wanting for nurses and midwives to come out before teaching them law and ethics in nursing, it will be prudent for a manual documented in basic issues on law in nursing practices to be available.
“And we will be so much delighted if the book can come out by January 2017,” Mr Nyante stated in Accra at the closing ceremony of a six weeks tailor-made-training on legal issues.
The programme, which was organised by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Ghana and the University of Ghana Faculty of Law, Legon is part of a training that takes place once every two years on the council’s calendar.
It aimed at reducing various legal and ethical issues in the nursing profession.
The training which was designed for a cross-section of nursing managers, directors, principals midwives, nurse clinicials, tutors among others in the country brought together 186 professionals to discuss rights and responsibilities, constitution, issues of labour law, legal issues of employers and employees, consent forms as well as law of interstate for patients.
Mr Nyante urged participants to empower their colleagues with knowledge gained and perform their works well by being ambassadors on the field.
Mr Lawoetey Tetty, the Director of Human Resource for Health, Ministry of Health, advised the Council to go beyond engaging senior nurses and give room to younger ones as well.
“I believe if we catch the students young in the profession, it will go a long way to help us,” he said.
Mr Tetty implored participants to share their knowledge acquired over the six-weeks with their peers for all to understand the legal ethics of the profession.
Mrs May Osae-Adade, the Board Chairperson of the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Ghana, said the course was practical and an eye opener, which could help health workers to distinguish between thoughts and legal terms.
She advised participants to form regional teams to replicate what they had been thought and leant.
“Those in the classroom should also teach their students with the knowledge acquired,” she said.
Some of the facilitators lauded organisations for the programme for not being a one-way learning approach but a service to the Council, participants and the various districts as it made them enlightened with their responsibilities, particularly the legal issues of their clients and community at large.
Some participants who spoke to the Ghana News Agency said the six phase training was educative and interactive that the knowledge acquired would help parents and individuals personal lives to be improved.
Source: GNA