Edith Allwood-Anderson (centre), president of the Nurses' Association of Jamaica, shares a light moment with Lyttleton Shirley (left), chairman of the South East Regional Health Authority and CEO of Mitchell's Auto Supplies, during the celebration of International Nurses' Day yesterday at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel in St Andrew. Looking on is Lascelles Chin, chairman and CEO of the Lasco Group of Companies. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer

As nurses in Jamaica yesterday joined the world in celebrating International Nurses' Day, Lascelles Chin, chairman of the Lasco Group of Companies, urged the Government to move swiftly to implement telenursing.

International Nurses' Day is celebrated around the world every May 12, the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth. Nightingale is known for being the founder of modern nursing.

The observance of the day is aimed at highlighting the important role nurses play in communities and the health sector.

Speaking yesterday during an International Nurses' Day press briefing and the launch of National Nurses' Week, Chin urged the island's nurses to intensify the use of the latest technology as a necessary tool in addressing the health needs of Jamaicans.

"I believe that telenursing is taking too long to get off the ground in Jamaica. In this country where mobile phone penetration stands at 90 per cent, telenursing can be used effectively in transmitting information on new and existing illnesses," said Chin.

"Imagine the difference it would make if Jamaicans could get mobile phone alerts or text messages about some new and existing problems facing them," he said.

Need for collaboration

Chin told the gathering that chronic illnesses such as hypertension, diabetes and heart disease were prevalent in Jamaica, noting that there was a need for nurses and other health practitioners to collaborate in putting in place a monitoring system for those patients via mobile- or land-phone technology.

"Mobile phones can also be used to provide round-the-clock nursing advice to patients, senior citizens, pregnant and nursing mothers, persons with HIV/AIDS and the average citizen needing information."

Guest speaker Lyttleton Shirley, chairman of the South Eastern Regional Health Authority (SERHA), said nurses were as good as doctors.

"They can now do and are expected to do diagnostic work ... ," he told the gathering at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel in St Andrew.

Shirley challenged the nurses to be prepared to gain important practical experience.

Edith Allwood-Anderson, president of the Nurses' Association of Jamaica, said the role of nurses in health care was seldom acknowledged.

"We have the tendency to sweep these achievements under the carpet," said Allwood-Anderson. She encouraged the nurses to take credit for their innovations.

Dr Leila McWhinney Dehaney, chief nursing officer in the Ministry of Health, said nurses had been and would continue to be the backbone of health-care delivery across the world.

National Nurses' Week will be observed July 19 to 25. The week will end with the LASCO/NAJ Nurse of the Year award.

petrina.francis@gleanerjm.com