Nurses' Week Activities

International Nurses’ Day formal program was held on 11th May 2018 in Dr TMA Pai Auditorium of KMC, Manipal.

The theme chosen by International Council of Nurses for this year is Nurses: a voice to lead: health is a human right- access, investment and economic growth. Chief guest, Smt. Priyanka Mary Francis, DC, Udupi district mentioned in her address that, nurses are key stones in the health care industry, they are like foundation of a building, invisible but very important for sustaining the structure of health care industry. Guest of Honour was Dr Parvati V Bhat, Medical Superintendent, Dr TMA Pai Hospital, Udupi and she reiterated Florence Nightingale’s contributions to nursing and related it to the present day nursing care, where the new generation nurses are striving hard to maintain the dignity and passion for their profession.

Dr Anice George, Dean MCON and convener of International Nurses’ Day, while addressing colleagues and students stressed that, nurses need to work for service not for recognition. She enlightened the young minds to care for the patients as if they are our near ones, where every patient requires empathy to be at comfort. During this occasion three eminent nurses Dr Kasturi R Adiga, former Principal MSON, Mrs Deena, Nursing Superintendent, KH Manipal and Mrs Jyothi Salins, Retd Staff Nurse, RMCW Alevoor, Udupi were felicitated for their contribution towards welfare for patients, nurses and students. Also, the Emergency Room Staff Nurses of KH hospital who took care of the student Ms. Jismy Johny, when she was injured and hospitalized were appreciated and honored.
Prizes were distributed to the winners of Nurses Trivia: sharing experiences and fun stories, poem competition and collage competition.

As a part of this, various activities were scheduled such as Nurses’ Trivia, Health Awareness Camp, Poem Competition, Collage Competition, Dental Checkup and Mental Health Camp and a Seminar on the ICN theme for the 2018 Nurses’ Day.

Dental checkup and Mental health screening program
The department of Community Health Nursing organized Dental checkup and Mental health screening for inmates of Spandana, Special School, Santhekatte, Nejar, Kallianpura. Department of Public Health Dentistry along with Department of Psychiatry conducted a camp. Total 42 inmates were screened for mental health. Dental checkup was done for 31 clients, of which five of them had oral prophylaxis treatment and six clients were referred for further treatment to Kasturba Hospital Manipal. Out of 42 inmates, none were obese, 10 were below the expected weight for height and two had high blood sugar level. Director conveyed that the camp was beneficial for the group.

Health screening and awareness program
Health screening and awareness program was conducted by the Department of Fundamentals of Nursing in Mattar area of Udupi District on May 6, between 9 am to 1 pm. Around 60 people attended the program. Health screening included assessment of height, weight, Blood pressure and blood sugar. Respiratory assessment and Breast Examination was also performed. Individual awareness was given to each of the persons based on their requirement. Participants were enthusiastic in attending the awareness program and raised many questions and clarified their doubts.

Nurses’ Trivia
The ‘Nurses’ Trivia competition’ was organized by the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecological Nursing on May 7, 2018 from 2.00 – 4.30 p.m. Altogether 39 candidates participated in the competition. The participants included the faculty members and the students of MCON and MSON, the staff nurses and ward sisters from Kasturba Hospital, Manipal.
The competition required the participants to speak about their experiences or fun situations or lessons learnt during their professional career. They could also narrate their experiences through anecdotes or situations that they encountered during their student days or during their professional life. Each participant was given a time limit of 3 minutes to speak. The judges were Ms Brayal D’Souza, Assistant Professor, Prasanna School of Public Health, MAHE, Dr. Shashidhara Y.N, Associate Professor and HOD, Community Health Nursing, MCON, MAHE and Mrs. Shalini, Nurse Educator, Kasturba Hospital, Manipal. The first prize was won by Mrs. Charlet Jasmine Vaz, Lecturer, Department of Fundamentals of Nursing, second prize was secured by Mrs. Yashoda S, Assistant Professor- senior scale and the third prize was bagged by Mr. Joe James, 3rd year BSc Nursing student, MCON, MAHE. The organizers thanked the judges and the participants for their active participation and competitive spirit.

Poem Writing and Collage Competition
The department of Mental Health Nursing organized poem writing competition on May 8, 2018 between 2:00 to 3:00 pm in I BSc Nursing classroom, MCON. on the theme: Perception about a nurse and nursing profession. A total of 23 candidates participated in the competition. Mrs Shalini Quadros, Assistant Professor, Department of Occupational Therapy, SOAHS and Mr Biju Soman, PG student, Department of Hospital Administration, Prasanna School of Public Health, MAHE were the judges. Collage competition was organized by the same department on May 9, 2018 from 3:00 to 4:00 pm in I BSc Nursing classroom, MCON on the theme: “Nurses: A Voice to Lead- Health is a Human Right”. Mr Praveen A Jain, Lecturer, Psychiatric Social Work, Department of Psychiatry, Manipal and Mr Anil Raj, Lecturer, Department of Medical Surgical Nursing, MCON were the judges.

Seminar
The faculty of Medical Surgical Nursing department organized the Seminar. Mrs Soumya Christabel, Assistant Professor, convener of the seminar welcomed the moderator and the speakers for their positional roles. Dr Linu Sara George, Professor and Head, Department of Fundamentals of Nursing as the moderator and resource persons for the themes were Dr Leena Sequira, Principal, Manipal School of Nursing Manipal, Dr Sushmitha R Karkada, Assistant Professor, Dept. of OBG Nursing and Mrs Shalini G Nayak, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Medical Surgical Nursing.
Dr. Leena Sequira emphasized on the topic ‘Health is a human right’ as focused by the International Council of Nurses (ICN). The key areas covered were: right to health, health responsibility, why nurses a voice to lead and how the right to health applies to nurses. She also highlighted on the challenges set before us in maintaining health, general principles of health system and determinants of health including the core elements of health function.

Mrs. Shalini G Nayak spoke on the topic ‘unpacking the complexity and access to health care’. The areas of deliberations included; access to health care, dimensions and determinants of access to health care. She also emphasized that poor health literacy and disparity among the indigenous and the nonindigenous population is the important cause of unmet needs. The talk ended with the solution to have better access by stepping towards the ‘patient centered approach’ from the ‘pattern centered approach’.
Dr. Sushmitha R Karkada accentuated on the ‘investment and economic growth in health’. She mentioned on the policy directions to enable health, Universal Health Coverage (UHC) as an investment towards the health and the benefits of UHC. The session concluded with the highlight on the strategies for investment in health workforce. The students and faculty took part actively in the seminar by raising various concerns in health care and solutions were addressed by the Dean and Resource persons.