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Importance of resilience building for nurses

Nurses are at the forefront when dealing with patients, which can cause a heavy toll on mental and physical health. American Hospital Dubai ensures that it provides ample support to its nurturers

One of the essential areas of discussion in the nursing profession has been how to support their mental wellbeing and build resilience. It is a discussion that has gathered critical mass in today's pandemic, which has created new pressure points in healthcare systems worldwide.

It is no overstatement to say that nursing is among the most complex, demanding, and challenging professions. In the grim theatre of disease and sickness, nurses are at centre stage as they tend to people caught between the opposing forces of healing and pain, hope and despair, life and death. Grappling daily with these polarities takes a heavy toll on a nurse's own emotional and psychological wellbeing, and interventions that seek to alleviate this stress are now an integral part of healthcare objectives.

At American Hospital Dubai, we believe these interventions must occupy a firm place in our Nursing Department's progress. The fundamental fact about nursing is that it's a choice an individual makes to serve humanity. We must acknowledge this premise as pivotal to formulating nurse empowerment policies. 'Nurturing the nurturers' is how we see it and, we believe this is central to a healthcare institution's commitment to delivering the best quality patient care. Nurses are vital to connecting patient and treatment protocols. Building their mental resilience and expanding their knowledge makes the system more robust, as proven in many cases across the world.

How to nurture the nurturers

As with any other profession, lifelong learning is a critical asset for nursing. Healthcare systems must counterbalance the complexity and high-stress nature of a nurse's job with growth, skill-building, and coping strategies. The latter is innate to many nurses and can be enhanced and fortified through learning and experiential support.

Our education and training programmes are a significant component of nurse empowerment. For example, we use the Relias and Lippincott online courses to enhance our nursing team's education. This education's objective is not to merely deliver theoretical advancement of knowledge but to help them actively apply the positive principles in their professional lives. These programs enhance nursing competencies through their design to inform, support and enhance nurses' allegiance to their role and ambitions.

American Hospital Dubai also provides classroom-based education for its nursing team.

When the pandemic hit in 2020, our education team provided accelerated orientation, training, and education to get 135 nurses ready to provide the highest quality of care to Covid-19 patients.

An effective healthcare system is a self-advocate for more investment in workplace-led measures for supporting and empowering nurses. American Hospital Dubai is committed to this advocacy.

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