Nursing

��������� Great prospects in a rehabilitated profession

������������� Nursing has recently become very attractive as the demand for personnel has increased because of economic growth The rapid expansion of the healthcare industry in India which coincides with the exodus of paramedical personnel to the Middle East, the US, UK, and other countries, has created an acute shortage of trained nurses in the country. "This career has recently become very attractive as the demand for professionals in this field is rising with economic growth. Besides, nursing which had a low status in society all these years has now acquired respectability with excellent training facilities available here," says Aleyamma Joykutty, former principal of Mumbai's Leelabai Thackersey College of Nursing, an affiliate of the SNDT Women's University. Nurses � male and female � are an essential component of the healthcare service industry. They are professionally trained individ- uals who take care of the sick and convalescent, the disabled and the helpless, of all ages. The process of restoring patients to normal health depends as much on nurses as on doctors and surgeons. Contrary to popular perception, a career in nursing requires prolonged study and training. The best qualification is a B.Sc (nursing) course of four years duration followed by diploma programmes in general nursing (GN)/general nursing midwives (GNM)/male nurse (MN) of two to three years duration. The diploma programmes could be

�������������� followed by a B.Sc post-basic/post-certificate nursing course of two years duration after two to three years work experience. These study and training programmes are open to students who have completed their Plus Two examinations with physics, chemistry, and biology averaging at least 50 percent. However most training institutes admit students on the basis of their performance in their own entrance examinations which test their knowledge of physics, chemistry, and biology up to class XII or equivalent level. There are around 850 schools and 170 colleges of nursing in India offering diploma, graduate, and postgraduate study programmes Admission is on the basis of an all-India admission test. Most colleges of nursing are 'attached' to medical colleges. While Central government or all-India institutions admit students on the basis of a nationwide entrance examination, colleges of nursing in the states do so on the basis of domicile. Postgraduate courses are usually of two years duration and open to those who have completed a four-year B.Sc (nursing) programme or who have completed the B.Sc post-basic/ post-certificate course and have work experience. Some all-India colleges of nursing are:

������������� � Leelabai Thackeraey College of Nursing, SNDT Women'8 University, Mumbai

������� ������� Rajkumari Amrit Kaur College of Nursing, New Delhi

������������� � College of Nursing, AIIMS, New Delhi

������������� � College of Nursing, Christian Medical College, Ludhiana

������������� � College of Nursing, Christian Medical College, Vellore

������������� � Jamia Hamdard College of Nursing, New Delhi

������������� � College of Nursing, SMS Medical College, Jaipur

������������� � The Armed Forces hospitals in various parts of the country which have their own colleges of nursing

������������� � College of Nursing, Chandigarh

�������������� The special category of nurses who administer care to mentally ill patients don't usually discharge as many physical nursing duties as general nurses unless dealing with elderly bedridden patients or those with psychiatric and physical ailments as well. But though physically less demanding than general nursing, a nurse's job in a mental care hospital is emotionally intensive. Some of the major institutes imparting this training are the Central Institute of Psychiatry, Ranchi; National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore; and AIIMS, New Delhi. All qualified nurses have to be registered. They can be employed wherever nursing services are required, e.g. hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, industries, factories, public health organisations et al. With a growing number of corporates entering the healthcare business setting new multispeciality hospitals, the demand for trained nursing professionals is rising. There's also a growing demand for nurses, both male and female, in countries abroad where the number of single, elderly, and incapacitated patients is rising. As the training provided in India is accepted to be on a par with international standards, there is heavy demand pull for nurses from the Far East, Wes Asia, Australia, UK, and USA vying to attract nurses with pay packages of Rs. 50,000 plus per month. "The pressure of demand for our four-year B.Sc nursing programme has increased considerably in recent times. Last year there were 700 applicants from all over India for 50 seats, of whom 300 were selected to write the entrance exam. This is because apart from high-quality classroom instruction, students get very good practical training as we are affiliated to the municipal and government hospitals. Moreover we are the only college in Maharashtra offering the M.Sc (nursing) programme, though admission is restricted to 16 students Per year because of faculty and infrastructure constraints," says joykutty, a nursing graduate of the Christian Medical College, Vellore (Tamil Nadu).

������������ �SEVERAL MULTIPLES. Employment prospector for trained nurses are excellent. In municipal and government hospitals starting salaries for trained nurses are between Rs. 6,000-7,000 per month whereas private hospitals hire a graduate nurse on Rs. 5,000-6,000 with better perks and faster promotions. Sad but true the most lucrative career path for qualified nueses is to seek employment abroad where pay packets are several multiple of Indian packetages back� home another off the beaten track option is home care nursing which is���

�������������� financially rewarding while offering independence from taxing hospital schedules. But at the same time taking full-time care of patients is far from an easy task which is why home-care nursing is relatively expensive. Teaching and research are also good options for trained nurses and could supplement nursing incomes. But the bottom line is that there is a shortage of trained nursing personnel across the board. "The on-the-ground situation is that at present India needs one million additional nurses. The Indian Nursing Council has fixed a certain ratio of nurses to patients but unfortunately it's impossible to put into practice because of the continuous emigration of trained nurses. Even teaching institutions like ours can't retain our best personnel. It's time the Central and state governments upgrade facilities and pay packets in government hospitals to retain our expensively trained nurses in the country," says Joykutty who has been teaching since 1972 at the Leelabai Thackersey College of Nursing, Mumbai, from where she also obtained her M.Sc (nursing) degree.