Nursing Officer urges health professionals to preserve patient confidentiality

By Dennis Peprah/Daniel Ashietey, GNA

Sunyani, March 23, GNA – Mrs Cordelia Yeboaa-Yeboah, a Chief Nursing Officer at the Brong-Ahafo Regional Hospital in Sunyani has warned that it was a serious offence for health professionals to take and share pictures of patients on social media for public view.

She said the unfortunate practice was a total breach of the profession, and warned particularly nurses and midwives against the practice as those who would be found culpable would be dismissed and lose their professional license.

Mrs Yeboaa-Yeboah gave the warning when he was speaking at the matriculation ceremony of the Sunyani Nursing and Midwifery Training College, which officially admitted 516 students.

The fresh students, made up of 403 females and 113 males would pursue various programmes in General Registered Nursing, Midwifery and Nursing Assistants (clinical).

Mrs Yeboaa-Yeboah, said nursing was a divine call and urged institutional authorities not to tolerate trainees with questionable characters in order not to dent the image of the profession.

She indicated that the confidentiality of every patient ought to be guaranteed as any leakage could traumatise them and worsen their condition as well as lead to public stigmatisation to impede their recovery process.

Mrs Yeboah-Yeboaa told the nursing trainees that as the management prepared to acquire professional license, there was the need for them to also concentrate on their books and avoid unhealthy lifestyle and bad peers who might ruin their future.

She entreated the institutional authorities to be strict on the students and not to hesitate to discipline the recalcitrant ones to serve as deterrent to like-minded others.

Mr David Amalba Ayinne, the Principal of the College cautioned the students to adhere to their constitution and demonstrate a high sense of discipline.

He said the college had successfully obtained full institutional accreditation and had also been selected as one of the centres of excellence by the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology for the Bachelor of Science (Nursing).

Mr Ayinne pointed out that the college was in urgent need of a conference hall while its dining hall also needed expansion.

He told the students that their continuous stay in the college and successful completion of their study depended on their academic performance and level of discipline, and asked them to respect authority as management would not spare trouble makers.

GNA

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