Government supports nurse training initiatives

Nurse-training initiatives both a local level as well for higher training abroad have the governments’ support, Health Parliamentary Secretary Joseph Cassar said this morning.

Addressing a conference on pediatric nursing, he said that the ever-increasing drive to sub-specialise has brought greater challenges – both to the nurses and their tutors and teachers.

Nevertheless, the increasing complexity of paediatric care with new treatment modalities, increasing socio-cultural diversity amongst patients, greater patient expectations and medico-legal pressures, created new challenges to those choosing paediatric nursing as their career.

The parliamentary secretary said that the move to Mater Dei a year ago created several advantages, including a greatly improved work-friendly environment both for the staff and patients.

But an improved work environment in isolation was not enough and this needed to be matched by initiative and drive to improve standards in patient care.

This was what was happening in pediatric care - sub-specialisation continued to increase with greater and innovative services being added such as a totally autonomous oncology unit, improvements in the process for transfer of critically ill children overseas, and a customised Day Care Unit.

Paediatrics was the only unit with its own in-house training centre where, to-date, more than 10 postgraduate courses involving nurses have been organised.