Keeping Your Skills Up to Date: Education and Training for Healthcare Professionals
It is said that the best investment you can make is in yourself. And when it comes to investing in your skills as a healthcare professional, the rewards can be bountiful with returns of increased knowledge, confidence, and adventure. Constant changes in practices, procedures, and technologies means that whether you are in the operating room or in the pharmacy your ability to adapt and grow is an asset.
Linda Oledibe, a Registered Nurse at the RNZ Occupational Hospital in Port Harcourt, was part of the first group of Nigerian nurses trained in the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) Trauma Nursing Core Course (TNCC). The TNCC is considered the gold standard of training for trauma nursing and gives the provider the ability to stabilize and hopefully save the lives of people who present at the Emergency Department (ED) with critical and life-threatening injuries.
Nurse Oledibe has benefited from her TNCC training in many ways.
WHEN DID YOU TAKE THE TNCC?
Nurse Oledibe: November 2018.
WHAT SKILLS DID THE TNCC GIVE YOU THAT YOU DID NOT HAVE BEFORE?
Nurse Oledibe: Taking the TNCC empowered me. Especially in terms of critical thinking. Every second matters. I can respond faster to emergencies like pain, bleeding, trauma or shock and use my nursing knowledge to resolve them. I feel that after taking the course I am able to provide expert nursing care for trauma patients.
GIVE ONE RECENT EXAMPLE WHERE YOU USED YOUR TNCC TRAINING IN YOUR CURRENT JOB?
Nurse Oledibe: Recently, I was presented with a 5-year-old child who sustained a deep laceration on the leg following a fall on a glass table while running at home. The child was bleeding profusely on arrival to the emergency room, and I was able to stop the bleeding and clean the wound. The wound was then closed with sutures while the patient was under local anaesthesia.
With neurological status ascertained, the child was in mild pain and prescribed analgesics. Vital signs were stable, and a head-to-toe assessment and X/Ray of the affected limb were completed. Finally, the child was admitted into the children's ward for surgeon's review.
WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT HAVING COMPLETED THE TNCC?
Nurse Oledibe: The hands-on experience of the TNCC gave me confidence. I am no longer scared if the emergency door opens or when I hear an ambulance siren, or a call from emergency control 199 for medical rescue/evacuation for trauma cases. I found that I made an extraordinary difference in the lives of the patients I treated and their families by stretching my professional wings.
RNZ offers health training to both clinical and non-clinical personnel. Contact us for information on our various courses.