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The Next Five Years
The IUBAT College of Nursing has reached a significant threshold. From modest beginnings in 2003, our first BSN students graduated in 2009. They have progressed well. International faculty are pleased with their performance; the best local hospitals want to hire them.
GOING fORWARD IN THE nEXT fIVE yEARS wE sEE tWO pRIORITIES:
1. To train the trainers: Bangladeshi educators as permanent IUBAT faculty.
2. To expand nurse education opportunities by partnering with other agencies.
Just How Bad is the Situation in Bangladesh?
“Firoza, a 22-year-old burn patient, was screaming in pain when the ward assistant (aya) was changing her bandages. ‘The number of nurses is inadequate here and they are busy with other work. It is the norm that the ayas would change the bandages in exchange for taka 100,’ said a relative complaining about nurses’ poor quality training, behaviour and non-cooperation.” Read more
Dr ASMM Rahman surgeon at United Hospital, said, “The shortage of skilled nurses is a deep-rooted problem. Nurses come from families facing some kind of financial hardship. In our society there is a taboo on the nursing profession and girls from respectable families are discouraged. No one writes in school essays that she wants to be a nurse. In other countries nursing is a noble profession. But we are yet to understand that.” Read more
“One trainee male nurse was very motivated to learn and give all possible care to patients. He was doing everything for patients. Other trainee nurses didn’t like it. They told him not to provide all care to patients but he continued. One day other male nurses lured him behind a building and physically assaulted him. After this he lost his motivation.”
Read more in Hadley MB et al. Why Bangladeshi nurses avoid ‘nursing’. Social Science & Medicine 64 (2007) 1166–1177
“Dr Rubaiul, chief consultant at Apollo Hospitals, identified high error rates, lack of properly trained personnel, and unnecessary tests as major impediments to health services. ‘There are 42,573 registered doctors, 22,500 nurses and only 2,220 lab technicians in the country, while the reverse should have been the ratio,’ he said. The shortage of competent teachers and teaching methods, poor accreditation system and lack of community-based practical training are the other setbacks, he added.” Read more
