Association urges empathy to patients

Ahead of the May 5 International Day of Midwives (IDM), the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), has urged members to imbibe the values of empathy and friendliness to patients in their care to quicken recovery.

Mrs Temitope Adelaja, the Chairman, Lagos University Teaching Hospital branch of NANNM, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja.

She said that the IDM, celebrated annually on May 5 all over the world, was to raise awareness about the contributions of midwives toward patients’ recovery and had “Midwives, Mothers and Families: Partners for Life” as theme for this year.

Adelaja, who described the theme as apt, noted that midwives assist mothers to make better decisions on what was required to have safe birth and healthy homes.

She further urged midwives to be passionate about taking care of patients and provide quality care aimed at maternal and child survival.

The chairman said that the lack of conducive environment, consumables in hospitals, poor welfare package, among others, were challenges facing midwifery.

She attributed the delay in service delivery by midwives to failure of government to provide vital consumables in hospitals.

She urged all tiers of government to rise up to their responsibilities in ensuring good welfare packages for midwives.

According to her, this will go a long way in reducing maternal and child mortality rate, as well as guarantee the health of the nation.

She said “we should always put ourselves in patients’ shoes at every point in time in spite of what we are passing through in our work places."

“Most of the consumables that we need like gloves, cotton wool, writing materials, mask, among others, are not readily available in hospitals and for us to take care of patients, we waste a lot of time looking for things to use."

“This agitates most of the patients by saying we are not good, causing delays in attending to them because of the lack of such facilities."

“Our members sometime work without electricity just to ensure the survival of mothers and babies, which is too bad for the profession.”

IDM is commemorated in more than 50 countries around the world to raise awareness about midwives’ contributions to healthcare delivery.