Top 10 Challenges Faced by Nurses in Uganda
The
healthcare sector of Uganda has been plagued with a series of challenges and
scandals. One of the key areas affected is the nursing department.
Nurses in Uganda face a series of challenges which undermine their day-to-day
activities. These problems range from individuals to hospitals specifically to
society as a whole.
From
attending to patients' physical and emotional needs to the security and safety
of nurses to societal attitudes towards them, Ugandan nurses faced the following top 10 major challenges:
1. Nurses are poorly paid
Nurses
in Uganda are among the lowest-paid jobs in the country. Most nurses earn a
monthly UGX 561978.45
a month.
This salary is often very small to cover the basic
needs of an average Ugandan such as housing, feeding, clothing, transportation
and health. This often results in low morale at work and can result in high
employee turnover at the workplace.
2. Poor working conditions
The second major challenge faced by nurses in
Uganda is poor working conditions. Most
of the hospitals are understaffed, they are poorly equipped and unsanitary. The
unsanitary environment can often put many Ugandan nurses at high risk of
infections, which makes it very difficult for them to provide quality healthcare
services to others.
3. Lack of professional development opportunities
Many nurses in Uganda lack the professional development
opportunities to pursue higher education while working. This is due to their
overloaded working hours which don’t allow the nurses to have extra time to
pursue the career development path.
There are little or no training programs
offered in the hospitals to enable the nurses to stay up to date with the latest
practices regarding nursing care.
4. Limited access to Equipment/ supplies
Nurses are also posed with the challenge of
limited access to supplies and equipment necessary for their day-to-day
activities. Due to insufficient funds, most hospitals lack the necessary tools
and equipment needed by their nurses to work.
Others are results of embezzlement of funds
by officials. This often results in nurses not having the necessary reagents,
chemicals, gloves etc. needed to do their work.
5. Low incentives
One major issue nurses in Uganda face is a
lack of incentives. The motivation and job satisfaction of nurses may suffer
from a lack of incentives. Lack of motivation or job satisfaction among nurses
may increase their likelihood of leaving the field, which may be a factor in
Uganda's nursing shortage.
6. High nurse-to-patient ratio
Many Ugandan nurses often face the challenge of
few available nurses working or attending to a large proportion of patients in
the hospitals. Due to the limited number of nurses in Uganda, nurses are
therefore required to attend to a large number of patients in the hospital.
When a nurse is forced to attend to several numbers
of patients at once, it can result in an increased risk of error committed. It
can also result in to decrease in quality care services rendered by these
nurses to the large population.
The high nurse-to-patient ratio can also
increase the risk of infections among nurses and sometimes results in fatigue
and burnout.
The need for more nurses in the workforce
must be addressed to address the issue of high nurse-to-patient ratios in
Uganda.
This can be accomplished by expanding the
number of students admitted to nursing programs, offering scholarships and
other financial inducements to entice students to pursue nursing careers, and
simplifying the licensing process for nurses with international training in
Uganda.
7. Long working hours
Many Ugandan nurses often look tired because of
long working hours. An average Ugandan can sometimes be seen working a 12-hour
shift.
These long working hours can often be
associated with a limited number of nurses and insufficient funds to hire more
nurses often results in the few working nurses working for long hours.
Long working hours often result in fatigue, and
burnout and reduce the nurse's ability to concentrate and deliver effective
services to patients.
The long working hours also often affect the
social and personal lives of these nurses, as many find it hard to maintain and
run their relationships and attend to proper family responsibilities.
8.
Sexual harassment
Just like many other occupations in the
world, the health sector is also facing the common issues of sexual harassment
for both male and female nurses.
In Uganda, both male and female nurses are
often harassed by patients and also by fellow work colleagues and supervisors.
A recent study conducted in 2019 shows that
44.0% of Uganda nurses have experienced sexual harassment while at the workplace.
Sexual harassment faced by many Ugandan
nurses can be seen in the form of requests for sexual favours, sexual jokes,
unwanted sexual advances etc.
Sexual harassment often affects nurses a lot,
results in anxiety, stress, and depression, and often results in to lack of
concentration at work which often affects the overall nursing profession and the
performances of the nurses.
9. No clear job descriptions
Another top challenge faced by nurses in
Uganda is the lack of clear work descriptions of the roles and responsibilities
of a nurse.
Without a clear job description, many nurses
will be unclear about their roles and responsibilities in a hospital which often
confuses, and conflicts with other nurses and with their supervisors.
The lack of a clear job description for nurses
often results in supervisors being unable to evaluate nurses' performances.
Hospital Management departments should create
and implement clear and simple job descriptions for every nursing role to
address the issue of the absence of job descriptions for nurses.
The duties, responsibilities, and requirements for each position should be clearly stated in these job descriptions.
10. Threats and intimidation
The last top challenges faced by Ugandan
nurses are threats and intimidation of dismissals, death, arrest, or demotion
by some key officials.
Nurses are often faced with verbal and physical
abuse from patients and or their family members, who are unhappy with the care
they are receiving. This is often stressful to these nurses and sometimes
frightening.
Nurses may also face bullying and intimations
from their colleagues or supervisors. This form of bullying can be based on
their religious beliefs, personal lives, ethnicity and gender.
Lastly, nurses can also face threats and intimidation outside their workplace. This is often common with nurses working in rural areas who are often victims of bandits and thefts.
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