ADULT PROBLEMS- EPISODE 4: IS NURSING A CALLING?

Nursing is a calling.

I'll be honest, I flinch a little when I hear people say this. I always wonder why it's usually nursing that is always a calling. Some might say that because you're dealing with people’s lives, that's why. But you don't hear the same emphasis being given to doctors or medical laboratory technicians or pharmacists or sonographers etc. 

Anyways.. 

Is nursing a calling?

Lemme digress a little

The problem that has led to this whole “nursing is a calling saga” is a more inherently Ghanaian problem than we'd like to admit. The average Ghanaian professional in the government sector has a very nonchalant attitude towards work. You will hear phrases like “this is not my Father's company”. Poor maintenance culture, arriving late to work and taking lunch breaks of two-hours (I exaggerate) because he can and there's nothing you can do about it. 

Treating customers with a pinch of respect because “if you leave, someone else will come”. We see this at the banks, at governmental offices even in the markets.

But people come to the hospital and all of a sudden expect something completely different. Why?

It's because you're probably in the most vulnerable state you'll ever be in, you're sick. So every minute act of disrespect is magnified The lazy receptionist, all of a sudden, is an expert in professional behavior.

Every action of the nurse is viewed through the veil of your own vulnerability. 

The market woman's disrespect can be overlooked and even forgotten, the nonchalance of that receptionist will illicit some sharp remarks under your breath but soon lost to memory but for that one nurse who did not attend to your mother early when you thought you were losing her, the hatred will be forever.

What people expect is professionalism and a deep respect for human lives (bare minimum things) and we feel that if there is some spooky motivation behind that nurse, then they would carry out their work with the above listed characteristics.

And that is where I beg to differ.

You do not need a divine mark of ordination to be a spectacular nurse. You need the necessary education, a mindset of constant learning, an effective reward system, a healthy work environment and an efficient professional body with strictly enforced rules (it's long, I know).

Let me confess, 

I don't have any problem when someone says they became a nurse because of money (I haven't heard anyone say this in real life, I guess the money isn't that enviable or maybe I just haven't spoken to a lot of people).

We are too understaffed in our hospitals to be policing reasons why people became nurses. 

And they did not decide to do anything illegal or immoral, they went to school, got a license and are earning honest money. That is not a crime.

The reason, be it honorable or not, will finally have to bow to the laid down principles that run the profession.

The nursing education system must be robust enough to make an efficient nurse out of everyone.

The governing body of the profession must drill the concepts of empathy and professionalism into the heads of its members so that it becomes second nature.

When people flaunt the rules, make examples of them. 

And finally, pay them well.

If we fix up just a little bit, all this "calling calling" issue will die a natural death. Let's stop stressing God. He does not need to download 5 scrolls into your head for you to be exceptional at your job, Colossians alone is littered with enough wisdom on how to conduct yourself as a Christian professional.

This is not to say that people who consider nursing a divine call are doing too much. We need more of such in the healthcare system, people who will champion the cause for reform in their small or big ways. 

But until we institutionalize excellence from the top downwards, we will still have to deal with low-level problems. It is more important to have a working system than it is to have a system where a few champions are doing right.

So is nursing a calling?

Yes, for some people.

But it is first a profession for all of us.

I genuinely want to hear your thoughts on this, let's chat in the comments.