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10 May 2012

Dressed in white, nurses at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital will tomorrow be starting at 8h00 to lead a march from the hospital entrance to the nurses’ home as a sign of their commitment to the delivery of quality healthcare.

Following the march, the nurses will be addressed by motivational speakers and renew their commitment to the profession by lighting candles and taking the nurses’ pledge.

This is part of International Nurses Day commemorations that are currently underway in all public health facilities in the province. These activities include a display of services rendered by nurses at the hospitals such as mother and child, oncology, renal and psychiatric care.

International Nurses Day will be commemorated internationally on Saturday, 12 May as declared by the International Council of Nurses in 1971. The day is in remembrance of Florence Nightingale who is considered as the founder of modern nursing. In South Africa, the first black nurse Cecilia Makiwane is also remembered.

The day celebrates and illuminates the nursing role in primary health care. It is for all nurses, in all settings, such as planners, policy makers, educators, managers, regulators, researchers, national nurse’s associations and communities through primary health care.

Under the theme: Closing the Gap: From Evidence to Action, is intended to empower nurses to identify what evidence to use, how to interpret that evidence, how to put that knowledge into everyday use, and how to identify whether the anticipated outcomes are sufficiently important to change practice and use precious resources that may be needed elsewhere. Nurses are encouraged to do research so that important evidence can be turned to established best practices in the workplace.

The nurses are seen by society as contributing immensely to health care services in the province. South Africa is considered one of the countries with the best trained and innovative nurses in the world.

Gauteng Health MEC Ntombi Mekgwe will honour nurses in a provincial event to be held at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital next week Saturday. She will reflect on the valuable contribution they make to society and their daily challenges.

Enquiries:
Simon Zwane on
Cell: 082 551 9892

Issued by: Gauteng Health
10 May 2012

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