Head of Administration at the Upper East Regional Hospital, Mr Zakariah Yakubu, has called on nurses to make careful records of all interactions with patients.

He said if they properly document all procedures carried out on patients, the law would not hold them responsible for negligence, because they would have records to show for work done.

Mr Yakubu said this when he facilitated a two-day induction workshop to school about 140 newly posted nurses and midwives at the facility on what was required of them per the rules and regulations of the hospital and the Ghana Health Services (GHS).

The personnel were taken through customer care, pre-operative and post-operative care of patients, administration of oxygen, patient charter and the core values of the GHS.

Mr Yakubu reminded the personnel that they were at the hospital to have a feel of practical work having received tuition in the classroom on the nursing business.

He said any procedure not documented means work is not done adding that they depended greatly on health insurance clients who constitute about 97 per cent of clients visiting the hospital for medical attention.

“Our biggest clientele is health insurance clients, so if you do not do proper documentation, health insurance clinical audit would conclude that you have not provided quality service to their clients and this could incur cost for the hospital”, he explained.

Mr Yakubu said people-centeredness, professionalism, teamwork, innovation, discipline and integrity were the core mandate of the GHS and urged the nurses and midwives to ensure that these values and ethics of the nursing profession reflected in the services they would be rendering to clients.

Mr Thomas Lambon, an Anaesthetist at the hospital, took the personnel through pre and post-operative care of patients.

He said anxiety was very common with patients booked for operation in the theatre and urged the personnel to ensure that intensive education and reassurance were done as part of preparations of patients for theatre.

Mr Lambon, who doubles as the Regional Chairman of the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA), said even though the hospital lacked some equipment in its critical units, it was not a reason for nurses to take to “shortcuts” in patient care.

Mr Irenious Angso, the Human Resource Manager at the Hospital, counselled them to be guided by a responsible attitude so as to leave a good impression of themselves on patients.