News from Nurses International

The January 2025 newsletter from our friends at Nurses International highlights an open access course on Nutrition in Nursing. Like the other open education resources available from the NI website, this course has been developed by expert faculty and includes hands-on practical experiences. The course covers health promotion, nutritional care strategies across the lifespan, and clinical applications in disease prevention and management.

NI has an impressive global impact, with course enrollment from over 100 countries. The newsletter describes NI’s organizational growth, now with a Clinical Alliance supporting agencies and practice-based educators; an Academic Alliance to support nurse educators, and a Nursing Consultant program that helps implement curriculum resources. If you are interested in shaping the future of nursing education worldwide, please contact NI at info@nursesinternational.org.

What does good home care look like?

BHP Director Alex Berland with caregivers at Sajida Foundation offices November 2024

BHP Director Alex Berland recently spent time with members of the care team at Sajida Foundation’s home care program. The program is preparing for a major expansion with more affordable services to support middle-income families who are looking after an elderly relative at home. The purpose of the meeting was to learn from front-line care providers about their experiences serving these vulnerable clients.

One caregiver, Sonia, described her 55-year-old female client who had suffered a major stroke. This client lives in an under-staffed private hospital where she had developed a severe bed-sore due to lack of attention. Sonia was following all the skin care treatments she learned during her training at Sajida. (BHP volunteers initially helped to develop the training program several years ago.) Despite Sonia’s efforts, her client’s bed-sore did not improve. “What could be going on?” Sonia asked herself. She came to suspect a lack of nutrition because the patient, who could not swallow safely, was being tube-fed.

Investigating with the hospital kitchen, Sonia discovered the feeding mixture did not contain the nutrients necessary for wound healing. Once a better mixture was supplied, the client’s wound healed and has not returned. With this problem resolved, the client’s mood improved and with Sonia’s encouragement to mobilize she is slowly overcoming some of the effects of her stroke. What makes this story more impressive is that Sonia is a caregiver, not a registered nurse. However, with her basic training by the Sajida team and on-going guidance from her supervisors, Sonia applied critical thinking to make a significant difference in her client’s life. This example shows the impact of good home care and helps explain why there is such a demand for these services in Bangladesh.

Adult daycare in Bangladesh

Our colleague Prof. Hasnat Alamgir has written several editorials about important health care system issues in Bangladesh. In his latest piece, he describes how needs of elderly people are not being met due to social and demographic changes. Although there is a growing population of older adults, more female relatives now work outside the home and low-wage domestic helpers are less available. At the same time, Alamgir writes, social, religious, and family value systems discourage children from sending their parents to residential care facilities. He proposes adult daycare as a culturally appropriate option. This is also compatible with home support services, something that BHP volunteers have supported at the Sajida Foundation. In other columns for Financial Express, Prof. Alamgir has written about food safety, patient satisfaction, health outcome measures, and occupational health with a special focus on garment factory workers.