(By Temitope Obayendo)
In this exclusive chat with Pharmanews, Mrs Mojisola Okelola, chairperson of West African College of Nursing (WACN), Nigeria chapter, reveals all there is to know about WACN. She also highlighted the advantages Fellows of the institute have over other nurses.
Below is the full text of the interview:
Tell us about yourself, especially your early years
My name is Mrs Mojisola Titilayo Okelola. I am the current chairman of the West African College of Nursing (WACN), Nigeria chapter. I am a psychiatric nurse. I retired as an Assistant Director of Nursing Services at the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Lagos.
I did my psychiatric nursing training at the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric hospital Abeokuta. I
had my general nursing training at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi Araba.
I did my nursing administration and management at the University of Benin, Benin City. I also attended the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON) where I did my Advanced Management Course. I am a member of the Nigerian Institute of Management.
I am someone who is consistently growing and takes time to continue learning even though it’s not a direct requirement for the job. I had my BNSc. from the Open University of Nigeria.
I find that many times my professional growth is based on what I studied directly and indirectly in relation to my work.
Why did you choose nursing as a career?
My motivation to choose nursing as a profession was from my mum, who observed that I was a kind, caring and happy child. She encouraged me so much to the extent that she personally went to collect the School of Nursing form for me. Being a nurse has offered me the opportunity to help others and make a difference in their lives on a daily basis. I like working often one-on-one with patients and assist them to recovery and rehabilitation.
When you help others, empathise with them, as well as exercise patience and dedication towards them, it makes you emotionally stable, fulfilled and happy in life.
As the WACN chairperson in Nigeria, what are the objectives of the institution?
The objectives of WACN are: to promote excellence in nursing education (basic and post basic level) and maintain the standard of nursing within the sub-region; formulate and support nursing educational programmes; contribute to the improvement of health care within the West African sub-region; plan and implement continuing educational programmes for nursing personnel; and promote and encourage research in the field of nursing.
In fulfilment of these objectives, WACN plans and implements workshops and seminars throughout the sub-region. Its major activities are carried out through its five constituent faculties, namely:
1. Medical surgical nursing, with three sub-areas: critical nursing (accident and emergency, intensive care, peri-operative nursing, special care babies nursing); palliative nursing (terminally ill (HIV/AIDS, Cancers etc.) rehabilitation); and adult nursing (non-communicable diseases).
2. Reproductive health nursing (MCH)
3. Mental health/psychiatric nursing
4. Community health nursing
5. Faculty of administration, management.
What are the benefits of being a Fellow of WACN and what qualities make a Fellow differ from a non-Fellow?
At WACN, efforts are put in place to ensure that our Fellows gain certain qualities that set them apart from non-Fellows. Chief among these are leadership and management skills. The goal of the WACN is to strengthen the public health sector of the West African sub-region. One way of doing this is to provide a platform for members to meet and share ideas about how to improve the health care sector. Members do collaborate on issues that affect the health care sector.
Fellows envision the future and lead the way in nurturing productive personnel. We don’t stop seeking additional professional growth and opportunities to make a difference in our profession. Fellows are encouraged to be politically conscious. Fellows are also encouraged to read professional journals and to attend continuing education courses in the nursing field.
We also run workshops – faculty by faculty, zone by zone, as well as branch by branch. Constant continuing education enhances the knowledge of nurses and this in turn improves the quality of care that patients receive. These workshops and seminars provide the platform for advancements in the field of medicine and caregiving to be discussed. Therefore it is important to stay abreast of current research to make sure patients are given the most up-to-date treatment.
As a Fellow of WACN, you are able to demonstrate confidence at all times. Self-confidence is essential in leadership. As a Fellow, the courage is always there for you. You are willing to take calculated risks as a good leader. As a Fellow, you are able to communicate clearly and consistently and remember to listen.
Recently, nurses and other health care workers planned an industrial action which was suspended eventually. Do WACN Fellows believe in strike as a tool for pressing their demands?
It is important to listen to the voices of heath care providers, including physicians, nurses and pharmacists, before policies that affect the health sector are formulated. For us to have a healthy nation, we must reform the health care sector. Workers in the sector ought to be treated better. The recurrent issues of understaffing, overworking and underpaying employees should be addressed. These are not only detrimental to the workers but also to the patients who depend on the attentive care of their medical providers.
When government promises to do things to improve the health sector, it should fulfil its promise and should not wait until the workers go on strike or until it notices there is an impending strike. And those at the helm of affairs in the Ministry of Health should not give preferential treatment and engage in discriminative practices amongst various professionals. We all have our professional roles to play in the health sector.
What are some of the challenges of WACN and how can they be resolved?
We have our challenges in the institution, chief among which is finance. Our small subvention is not regular and even when it comes, it is late. Our offices at the headquarters (6, Taylor Drive Yaba, Lagos) are not well-equipped.
Also some institutions refuse to sponsor nurses for courses and workshops thereby denying them the opportunity to gain much-needed knowledge.
What’s your advice to nurses across the nation?
My advice to nurses across the nation is to remember that our profession is a calling and, so, when there is a misunderstanding between the nurses and the government, we, as advocates of our clients, should embrace dialogue.
buy prescription drugs: https://genericwdp.com/ meds online without doctor prescription
celebrities on propecia – http://finasteridepls.com/ propecia lawsuit
tadalafil max dose: http://tadalafilonline20.com/ buy tadalafil us
tadalafil tablets: http://tadalafilonline20.com/ tadalafil tablets
buy tadalafil generic online – viagra vs tadalafil tadalafil prescription online
MALE ENHANCEMENT, THE GREATEST ENVY OF 21ST CENTURY
It is now common that most guys in the world at one point in their life, wished their penis were an inch or two longer. But the main target for penis enlargement advertising is insecure guys who think all their power lies in their penises. Penis enlargement, sometimes called male enhancement, refers to an assortment of techniques intended to increase the girth, length, or erectile rigidity of the human penis. However, when it comes to penis size, being average is really where you want to be as a big member comes with its own problems like erectile dysfunction. Hence, in this article we explore some useful precautional techniques in enhancing a member.
Procedures range from manual exercises to stretching devices and surgical procedures, with reports of successes and failures around the world. While some techniques are known to be outright hoaxes, others can produce some measure of success. Often, in the advertising of fraudulent products, the distinction between temporary enlargement, i.e. erection, and permanent enlargement is deliberately muddied.
Since there is no drug yet available on our modern pharmaceutical shelves for male enhancement, herbal remedies remain a great option. These herbal remedies have been widely used in Ayurveda since ancient times, but they have become exceedingly popular only in the recent times. Dong quai, blessed thistle, ginseng, ginkgo, kava kava, maca, black cohosh, golden seal are just some of the herbs that are used to bring about an enlargement of the penis.
These herbs help in extending the length and the girth of the penis by increasing the amount of testosterone, the male sexual hormone. The popularity of Ayurvedic herbs for penis enlargement is increasing by leaps and bounds with each passing day. Shilajit, an Ayurvedic preparation, is extremely popular in countries such as the US and in the European countries. Several other herbal products such as Vrishya Vati, Dhaatu Pushti, Dhutha Vriddhi, etc. are available which help for both penis enlargement as well as a cure for impotence.
There are many exercises for penis enlargement too. Squeezing and jelquing are the two most popular ones. Squeezing the penis means holding the penis tightly in the grasp till you can feel the blood surging inside it. When the blood has filled the penis completely, you must leave the penis. This could make the blood flow out of it, and the penis could become flaccid after a while.
Repeat the procedure. The steps are squeeze – allow blood to flow – let go – squeeze again. Squeezing works much better if the penis is made erect. Then you can understand the pressure building up within the penis. However, even if the penis is flaccid, while you are squeezing it, it will become erect. Jelquing is the second method of penis enlargement. This must be done quite carefully, or it might cause curvature of the penis. The penis is held at the base in a tight grip. Then, slowly but steadily, the hand is slowly moved upwards, i.e. towards the glans. The thumb is used to apply pressure on the entire length of the penis as it goes along. When the glans is reached, the hand is removed from the penis and replaced on the base. The entire movement is done again.
Repeating for about twenty times a day is supposed to show effects.
There are many variations to jelquing. Some people use one hand for the entire process; while some use both right and left hands, alternating with each other. Also the posture is important. Some men prefer to jelq while standing, while some prefer sitting. However, there are men who admit to jelquing while lying on the back on a bed also.
While jelquing if a circular jerk is employed, then it can provide increase in the girth of the penis also. To do this, one must jelq as mentioned above. When the hand reaches the glans, then the penis is pulled and rotated in a clockwise manner. A moderate pressure should be felt elongating the penis. Once this is done, the penis must be jelqued in the same manner as before; but the rotation must be anticlockwise. Ten rotations in each direction are what are needed to achieve the purpose.
Needless to say, one must be very careful when performing any kind of massage on the penis. The massage should be discontinued immediately if there is any kind of pulling or tearing pain. If there is any bleeding – however minor – it should be shown to the doctor and treatment must be obtained.
Also, the massage should always be equal on both the sides.
Massaging one side of the penis more than the other could lead to asymmetry and penis curves. At the same time, the entire length of the penis should be equally massaged. Massage is a technique of penis enlargement with the least number of side-effects. The benefits may be slow, but people who have tried these methods do claim some degree of improvement. But, the main thing that goes in favor of penis exercises are that they can be treated as a form of sexual arousal.
In summary, common sense doesn’t stop size-obsessed guys from trying very sketchy treatments on a vital part of their anatomy — and risking a lot in the process but it should be noted that after more than a century of generally dubious and sometimes lunatic penis enlargement attempts, there’s still not much you can do. Sure, there are lots and lots of supposed options out there — penis pills, creams, brutal stretching exercises, horrific-looking devices, and penis surgery. Almost none of it works. Our ultimate approach that can work often with modest benefits and no serious side effects is weight loss.
By Jones H Munang’andu
Motivational Speaker and Health Practictioner
Skype; jones.muna
Mobile; +260966565670
THE STING OF ABORTION
Many people do not understand that there are thousands of serious physical and psychological complications from abortion that happens every year. With the growing number of abortions both legal and illegal world over for family size management issue, it has become imperative for this author to explore this issue. The adverse effects of whether legal or illegal abortion on women is soon becoming more to the forefront as a particularly important human rights issue. Issues such as the abortion-breast cancer link, the abortion-depression link, the abortion-suicide links are now receiving widespread coverage. Therefore, in this article we explore all the possible stings of abortion and the full price that women pay.
To begin with, Abortion is defined as the deliberate and direct killing, by whatever means it is carried out, of a human being in the initial phase of his or her existence, at any time from conception to birth. However, it should not be confused with essential medical treatment to save the mother’s life that results in the death of her baby. There is a clear difference between essential medical treatment during pregnancy, and the direct targeting of the life of the unborn baby. In other sense, the word miscarriage has been used to explain an intentional abortion of a baby whilst abortion applies mostly to premeditated termination of a pregnancy for economic or social reasons.
The rising incidences of mostly illegal abortions in most of our communities have been largely linked to a lack of family planning which leads to ‘unwanted pregnancy’ as most literatures indicate. However, this author is not of the view that such a thing as ‘unwanted pregnancy’ exists owing to the process in which a human being may have to conceive (it takes two to tango or make a baby). Most people with small families claim to have planned their families to meet their economic capacities but the truth of the matter is, should we kill our unborn babies because of economic reasons..? or does abortion take away you new acquired mother status or make you a mother to a dead child..? Well, if economics reasons where central to predetermining the number of children a family should have, most of us wouldn’t have been born including the individual reading this article based on the economic hardships our parents passed through during the time we were conceived and with the ever worsening global economic issues, potential mothers and fathers of this generation would have to think twice. Consequently, if all babies are a special gifts from the almighty above and posses a unique contribution to this world, then they all deserve a chance to live. If one wants to avoid abortion really, then they should avoid getting pregnant by all means and methods possible than giving slim excuses when seeking medical abortion. Therefore, it would impress this author that our communities take up the issues of family planning seriously before landing their fate into the hands of medical undertakers. This is for simple reason that abortion whether legal or illegal still remains unsafe.
Abortion clinics and referral centres advertise in their literature that having an abortion is a practically painless, safe and easy procedure, carried out by a professional team who really care about women’s needs. Well, that is the claim but the reality differs dramatically as evidence of increasing malpractice legal cases grow steadily, confirming the belief that abortionists and their staff hold no value on life, be it the unborn child or the mother. But the truth of the matter is that all abortion hurts, as it is a direct interference with the woman’s body as well as interference with Nature. Immediately after an abortion, many women report a feeling of relief, and that is all the abortionists want you to hear beforehand. But you won’t hear of the guilt, depression and other physical complications that frequently follow. Furthermore, it is important to understand that these risks are rare (probably1 in every 100) and that some of these risks are associated with child birth. Hence, what matters is that you are aware that these risks exist as you strive to make an informed decision about your pregnancy.
CERVICAL, OVARIAN, AND LIVER CANCER
Women with a history of one abortion face a higher risk of having cervical cancer, compared to women with no history of abortion. Women with two or more abortions face also a relative risk. Similar elevated risks of subsequent ovarian and liver cancer have also been linked to single and multiple abortions. These increased cancer rates for post-aborted women may be linked to the unnatural disruption of the hormonal changes which accompany pregnancy and untreated cervical damage or to increased stress and the negative impact of stress on the immune system.
UTERINE PERFORATION
All abortion patients may suffer perforation of their uterus, yet most of these injuries remain undiagnosed and untreated unless laparoscopic visualization is performed. Such an examination may be useful when beginning an abortion malpractice suit. The risk of uterine perforation is increased for women who have previously given birth and for those who receive general anesthesia at the time of the abortion. Uterine damage results in complications in later pregnancies and eventually evolve into problems which require a hysterectomy, which in itself may result in a number of additional complications and injuries including osteoporosis.
CERVICAL LACERATIONS
Significant cervical lacerations requiring sutures occur in at least one percent of first trimester abortions. Lesser lacerations, or micro fractures, which would normally not be treated may also result in long term reproductive damage. Latent post-abortion cervical damage may result in subsequent cervical incompetence, premature delivery, and complications of labor. The risk of cervical damage is greater for teenagers, for second trimester abortions, and when practitioners fail to use laminaria for dilation of the cervix.
PLACENTA PREVIA
Abortion increases the risk of placenta previa in later pregnancies (a life threatening condition for both the mother and her wanted pregnancy) by seven to fifteen fold. Abnormal development of the placenta due to uterine damage increases the risk of fetal malformation, perinatal death, and excessive bleeding during labor.
SUBSEQUENT PRE-TERM DELIVERIES AND OTHER COMPLICATIONS OF LABOR
Women who had one, two, or more previous induced abortions are, respectively more likely to have a subsequent pre-term delivery, compared to women who carry to term. Prior induced abortion not only increase the risk of premature delivery, it also increases the risk of delayed delivery. Women who had one, two, or more induced abortions are, respectively more likely to have a post-term delivery (over 42 weeks). Pre-term delivery increases the risk of neonatal death and handicaps.
HANDICAPPED NEWBORNS IN LATER PREGNANCIES
Abortion is associated with cervical and uterine damage which may increase the risk of premature delivery, complications of labor and abnormal development of the placenta in later pregnancies. These reproductive complications are the leading causes of handicaps among newborns.
ECTOPIC PREGNANCY
Abortion is significantly related to an increased risk of subsequent ectopic pregnancies. Ectopic pregnancies, in turn, are life threatening and may result in reduced fertility.
PELVIC INFLAMMATORY DISEASE (PID)
PID is a potentially life threatening disease which can lead to an increased risk of ectopic pregnancy and reduced fertility. According to some literature, of patients who have a chlamydia infection at the time of the abortion, 23% will develop PID within 4 weeks. Studies have found that 20 to 27% of patients seeking abortion have a chlamydia infection. Approximately 5% of patients who are not infected by chlamydia develop PID within 4 weeks after a first trimester abortion. It is therefore reasonable to expect that abortion providers should screen for and treat such infections prior to an abortion.
ENDOMETRITIS
Medical literature reveals that Endometritis is a post-abortion risk for all women, but especially for teenagers, who are 2.5 times more likely than women 20-29 to acquire endometritis following abortion.
In general, most of the studies cited above reflect risk factors for women who undergo a single abortion. These same studies show that women who have multiple abortions face a much greater risk of experiencing these complications. This point is especially noteworthy since approximately 45% of all abortions are for repeat aborters.
In a survey of 1428 women, researchers found that pregnancy loss, and particularly losses due to induced abortion, was significantly associated with an overall lower health. Multiple abortions correlated to an even lower evaluation of “present health.” While miscarriage was detrimental to health, abortion was found to have a greater correlation to poor health. These findings support previous research which reported that during the year following an abortion women visited their family doctors 80% more for all reasons and 180% more for psychosocial reasons. The authors also found that “if a partner is present and not supportive, the miscarriage rate is more than double and the abortion rate is four times greater than if he is present and supportive. If the partner is absent the abortion rate is six times greater.”
This finding is supported by a 1984 study that examined the amount of health care sought by women during a year before and a year after their induced abortions. The researchers found that on average, there was an 80 percent increase in the number of doctor visits and a 180 percent increase in doctor visits for psychosocial reasons after abortion.
In summary, Abortion is significantly linked to behavioral changes such as promiscuity, smoking, drug abuse, and eating disorders which all contribute to increased risks of health problems. For example, promiscuity and abortion are each linked to increased rates of PID and ectopic pregnancies. Which contributes most is unclear, but apportionment may be irrelevant if the promiscuity is itself a reaction to post- abortion trauma or loss of self esteem. Hence, in a ‘normal’ situation, women may experience abortion as a traumatic event for several reasons. Many are forced into an unwanted abortions by husbands, boyfriends, parents, or others. If the woman has repeatedly been a victim of domineering abuse, such an unwanted abortion may be perceived as the ultimate violation in a life characterized by abuse. Other women, no matter how compelling the reasons they have for seeking an abortion, may still perceive the termination of their pregnancy as the violent killing of their own child. The fear, anxiety, pain, and guilt associated with the procedure are mixed into this perception of grotesque and violent death. Still other women, report that the sting of abortion, inflicted upon them by a masked stranger invading their body, feels identical to rape.
JONES H MUNANG’ANDU
HEALTH PRACTICTIONER
MEDICAL AUTHOR
MOBILE 0966565670/0979362525
SYPPE ID; jones.muna
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jones-h-m-munang-andu-85912960
HAS AFRICA MATURED IN CONTAINING CONTAGIOUS INFECTIONS LIKE EBOLA?
Ebola was first discovered in 1976. Outbreaks have surfaced from time to time ever since. The disease is particularly deadly, though in the current outbreak, about 60% of those infected have died, according to the Centre for Disease Control (CDC). While Ebola and HIV have a similar reproductive number of 1 to 4, they are different in many ways. This is because HIV and Ebola both are present in the blood, but the ways they infect cells, the way they live in the body are very different. Compared to the airborne organisms spread by casual contact, it takes effort to get infected with both of these viruses.
Though Ebola is a very deadly virus and is responsible for more than 5177 deaths in less than one year from its inception as reported by World Health Organisation (WHO), it has the possibility of infecting a good number of fans from a football pitch audience but expert stress that it is not an easy one to catch.
First of all, the virus is not airborne, so you can’t get it by simply being in close proximity to a patient, as you might with a cold or a flu virus as the disease only spreads through direct contact with a victim’s body fluids.
That means it’s very unlikely a person will contract Ebola just by being in the same room, airplane, bus or elevator as someone with the virus. Particularly if the person is not yet showing symptoms of illness from Ebola , which include bleeding, vomiting and diarrhea. Nonetheless, the risk increases further when one is exposed to blood of a victim of an Ebola patient.
Now the questions has to whether Africa has matured to contain the spread of infectious diseases like Ebola lies in the Knowledge Altitude and Practices (KAP) of most African societies. For instance, people in African societies often live in very close contact with each other with a dozen or more family members in the same house which is a fact acknowledged by most experts. Also, West African burial practices where the epidemic struck, often involve family members washing and preparing the body, which puts people in direct contact with Ebola-laden body fluid, whilst in the western worlds, people live much more spread out, and professionals handle the preparation of a body for burial. In addition, developed countries’ (western worlds’) health care and public health services are much savvier when it comes to controlling infectious disease.
Doctors and nurses are quick to put sick people in protective isolation, and to protect themselves with bio-suits. Even people who are taking care of them have a minimal risk of becoming infected.
However, what has taken most advanced medical thinkers and popular Africa medical columnist like the author of this article aback, is the fact that every day we take care of people with notorious infectious disease like hepatitis and active TB, which both are more infectious than Ebola but we have always managed to contain their spread. Some may argue that it’s because Ebola has no vaccine, hence, the reason for its rampant spread but how come previous outbreaks where more manageable than this one? What’s more, Ebola is much less contagious than many other more common diseases.
The virus, much like HIV or hepatitis, is spread through blood or bodily fluids and is not airborne. The virus further wreaks life-threatening havoc on the body by attacking multiple organ systems simultaneously. Therefore, this is no simple condition that has to be entertained but needs to be contained within a shortest period of time no matter which race or continent is affected. However, one big question not asked by many on the reluctance by countries with a presumed cure, is whether this is not a skim of series of bio attack by the residents of the artificial world (western world) on the Natural nurtured countries (African continent) to create demand for their secretly kept cures only meant for their likened skin colour?.. Just like it is presumed and documented that the HIV virus may have been laboratory engineered by the scientist from the west, to initially eliminate the so cold ‘black race’, it cannot be completely ruled out that the recent more virulent spread of the Ebola virus might be one of their making, judging by their precedence to selectively cure their ‘kind’.
Nevertheless, many factors play into how contagious a disease is thought to be and among those factors are:-How it’s transmitted (airborne, bodily fluids, other)- Infection-control practices in place -Extent of contact an infected person has with others -Percent of the population that has been vaccinated (if a vaccine exists)
To gauge how contagious different diseases are, experts take these and other things into account and estimate the average number of people likely to catch the illness from a single infected person. They call this the basic reproductive rate or number. The number is an average, a scientific guess, experts say, and it is likely to vary from country to country. We would anticipate the reproductive rate for Ebola in an African set up to be a little bit higher due to lack of infection prevention measures in place and general poor quality of health care delivery systems in place, whilst, in the Western country it would be at zero due to advanced health care services from technology to well-resourced health centres.
By comparison, measles, diphtheria, and whooping cough are all airborne, and they can be transmitted by just being in face-to-face contact with an infected patient, without touching them. When that person coughs or sneezes, others may become infected after breathing in the organisms. Whilst a vaccine and curative therapies might exist for the above mentioned conditions, there’s no clinically certified availed cure or vaccine for Ebola. Hence, with the current unlimited spread of the Ebola virus, it is likely to pose a risk of an international public health emergency or reach pandemic levels.
Therefore, for the love of soccer and other sports that pull crowds of spectators, it is important to institute strict infection prevention measures as a way to halt the spread of the virus. Furthermore, it would humanly make sense to come-up with a charity fundraising corner for the families affected by the effects of the epidemic. One reason for this could be that the lives lost from the Ebola virus are soccer/sport fans that would have loved to rally behind their favorite teams but couldn’t because their lives were cut short. Secondly, the survivors exposed to the virus would also feel treasured as they would sacrifice a live match from a stadium to a telecast one in order to avoid exposing more people to the virus. Even though, screening for the virus should start earlier bearing in mind the incubation period of the Ebola virus of 2-21 days.
In summary, if the people with right skills are put in place, in the facilitation of events with potential environment for the spread of Ebola virus, it is likely to be appreciated that Africa is mature to contain contagious conditions like Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever. For now, we can only wish the best to the teams likely to participate in the tournament slated for 2015. As regards African way of life and potential to facilitate the spread of the virus, it is up to each and every community to adopt hygiene practices that promote general good health. This is possible because Africa and Africans do not necessarily lack the knowledge, resources or technology to overcome such diseases but lacks a good attitude towards attaining a favourable development level.
FOR COMMENTS & QUESTIONS
JONES. H. MUNANG’ANDU (author)
Motivational speaker, health commentator &
Health practitioner
Mobile; 0966565670/0979362525
jonesmuna@yahoo.com