Meet your Stanger nurses

People who chose nursing profession as a third choice or just because there is a better chance of getting employed by government are the ones who fail to deal with the challenges of being a nurses at Stanger Hospital.

This is according to sister Victoria Sibisi and sir Sipho Dlamini from Stanger Hospital part of challenges that nurses face at the public hospital.

“As senior nurses we try by all means to teach and motivate our junior members. However if he or she is doing this job just for the sake of being employed, they cannot cope,” said Sibisi.

Sibisi is the manager of the emergency ward and she said they usually go through hard times on weekends.

“People will come in under the influence of alcohol, when they get to the hospital they will swear at us and demand special treatment and that is not the way we operate. That is when the love of being a nurse come in and the ones who are nurses for the sake of employment struggle to tolerate such behaviour,” said Sibisi.

Dlamini said most patients know their rights but they do not know their responsibilities as patients.

“A patient will ask to be discharged because he or she feels they can go home. However, we know that he or she is feeling better because they are at the hospital and if we can let him or her go home, they will not make it at home. They do not understand that. It is their responsibility to let the doctors or nurses do their job and follow the orders given to them,” said Dlamini.

Shortage of staff and the small capacity of the hospital are some of the challenges faced by nurses.