African Journal of Emergency Medicine (2011) 1, 3–4
African Federation for Emergency Medicine
African Journal of Emergency Medicine www.afjem.com www.sciencedirect.com
EDITORIAL
Emergency nurses: An essential component of emergency care in Africa Africa is a region of vast health challenges and these include road traffic collisions and violence related injuries.1,2 Africa is also experiencing a critical shortage of health care workers, with the current number insufficient to meet population health needs. Added to this challenge is the continuing exodus of health professionals from countries in the Sub-Saharan region, thus worsening the situation.3 Nurses are seen as the backbone to health service delivery in Africa and they are often the first (and sometimes the only) health professional available to manage a severely injured client. This nurse may be called upon to initiate emergency care and help stabilize the client before the medical practitioner arrives. The nurse in Africa is often completely underprepared for the complex management and/or stabilization of such a client. There are very few educational programmes to prepare the nurses in Africa to work in emergency centers, and where they are available, there is often lack of standardization across such programmes.4,5 To date, no standards exist to guide the emergency nurses in Africa and as such they are evaluated against the same criteria used in other areas of the hospital and/or other emergency centers worldwide, although their workload and required skill sets are very different. The emergency nurse in Africa is often working in a very resource constrained environment which in turn adds to this already challenging environment. Emergency nursing is a specialty in which a nurse cares for patients in the emergency or critical phase of their illness or injury, focusing on the level of injury severity and prioritizing time-critical interventions. Emergency nursing includes the care of individuals of all ages with perceived or actual physical
2211-419X Ó 2011 African Federation for Emergency Medicine. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Peer review under responsibility of African Federation for Emergency Medicine. doi:10.1016/j.afjem.2011.05.003 Production and hosting by Elsevier
or emotional alterations of health that are undiagnosed or require further interventions. Collaborating with members of the emergency personnel/multidisciplinary team, the emergency nurse identifies life-threatening problems, prioritises the urgency of care, rapidly and effectively carries out resuscitative measures and appropriate management and provides information and emotional support to the patient and his/her family within a supportive health care environment. Emergency nursing is episodic, primary, and usually acute in nature. It is carried out in the emergency care environment, which is not confined to the emergency center, but includes the pre-hospital and hospital environment.6 As a means of strengthening the development of emergency nursing in Africa, and to widen support and coordination for all of those involved in emergency care provision throughout Africa, the African Federation for Emergency Medicine (AFEM) was formed. The newly-established Emergency Nurses Society of South Africa (ENSSA) is committed to providing support to AFEM to promote emergency nursing as a specialty and to empower all nurses working in the emergency care environment. It is extremely important to note that one of the most important aspects of these new developments within emergency care in Africa is the collaborative spirit and recognition of the importance of all the members of the emergency care team namely; the nurse, physician and the prehospital staff members. Such collaboration and teamwork is essential in order to continue to improve emergency care in Africa. ENSSA is currently working on defining the scope of practice and core skills for emergency nurses in South Africa, as well as working towards the development of the role of the advanced nurse practitioner. Regional working groups within South Africa are in the process of being set up to work on this. ENSSA is also assisting a number of African countries with the development of their own standards and scope of practice of the emergency nurse. ENSSA is actively recruiting members and will accept any nurses (South African or international) who are involved in emergency care. Please access our website at http://emssa.org.za/enssa/ or follow us on our blog at http:// enssa-news.blogspot.com/ to find additional details about ENSSA as well as information regarding how to join this exciting organization.
4 References 1. World Health Organization. Status report on road safety in countries of the WHO African Region, Brazzaville. WHO Regional Office for Africa; 2010. 2. Kobusingye OC. Violence and injuries: what Africa should do. Afr Health Monit 2008(January–June);37–40. 3. Kinfu Y, Dap Poz MB, Mercer H, Evans DB. The health worker shortage in Africa: are enough physicians and nurses being trained? Bull World Health Organ 2009;87:225–30. 4. Gondwe WTM, Brysiewicz P. Emergency Nursing experience in Malawi. Int Emerg Nurs 2008;16(1):59–64. 5. Brysiewicz P, Bruce J. Emergency Nursing in South Africa. Int Emer Nurs 2008;16:127–31.
Editorial 6. Emergency Nurses Society of South Africa. Definition of emergency nurse and emergency nursing. Practice Guideline EN001; 2010. pp. 1–3.
Petra Brysiewicz Chair: Emergency Nurses Society of South Africa, School of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4041, South Africa Tel.: + 27 (0)31 2601281; fax: + 27 (0)31 2601543 E-mail address:
[email protected] Available online 20 May 2011
