Verify Nurses Through This System | Strange Case of a Hospital Supervisor in Tehran

The head of the Nursing Organization announced the activation of a nurse verification system, which provides a special means for the public to identify genuine nurses.

The head of the nursing system organization announced the activation of the nurse inquiry system, which has provided people with a special capacity to identify real nurses.

Ambassador Arjan - Maryam Sarkhosh: Imagine you bring a person who introduces herself as a nurse to take care of an elderly father or a patient who has just been discharged from the hospital. He is supposed to give the medicines on time, monitor vital signs, administer injections and monitor the patient's condition. But what happens if this person basically has no nursing education? These people have been introduced by the health system trustees for many years as nurses whose activities are not limited to home care.

The case of identifying a person who worked for many years without a nursing degree in one of Tehran's hospitals shows that this problem can even find its way to medical centers. An issue that has always been emphasized by the nursing system organization and according to the head of this organization, Ahmed Najadian, "due to the lack of authority, the supervision of nursing services in the private sector and at the community level is still facing serious problems."

However, the custodians of this field have not left hands and by launching an important system, they provided a special capacity to identify real nurses from fake nurses. A system that needs to be introduced more so that people can benefit from it when they need services.

A fake nurse is a person who introduces himself as a nurse without having a valid degree or professional qualification and undertakes services that require specialized nursing knowledge and skills.

Of course, a distinction should be made between nurses and other care workers. Elderly caregivers, paramedics and nursing assistants may provide certain services according to their training and job description, but this does not mean that they have the competence to perform all specialized nursing actions.

The main danger begins when someone without valid training takes on responsibilities such as administering medication, caring for complex wounds, handling patients with medical equipment, or recognizing warning signs. Mistakes in the amount or method of taking medicine, failure to observe the principles of infection control, inability to identify the signs of deterioration of the patient's condition and delay in referring him to medical centers are among the most important possible risks of such activities. This risk is greater for the elderly, hospitalized patients and people with chronic and incurable diseases; Patients who sometimes do not have the ability to express their problems or recognize mistakes in care.

Nurses are not a new issue, but their continued activity is a danger signal, a danger signal of damage to the health of patients. A review of the news indicates their effectiveness in various fields, from home care to activities in public and private hospitals.

Aban 1401: One of the officials of the nursing system organization warned about the supervisory gap in home nursing services and said that the lack of strict supervision and the problems of issuing licenses for home care centers have provided the basis for the activities of unauthorized people and nurse practitioners.

Mehr 1404: Ahmad Nejatian, the head of the nursing system organization, announced in a press conference last year that non-nurses and foreigners are used to provide services in some private centers that provide home nursing services.

Mehr 1404: News was published that a nurse had stolen from the home of an elderly person, but the public relations of the nursing system organization announced that the person in question was not a nurse, but a caregiver for the elderly who was employed informally.

June 1405: In a report, Iran newspaper mentioned the case of a woman who, according to her husband, worked in a public hospital and three private hospitals for about 6 years with a diploma and no specialized nursing education.

The strange story of a supervisor in Tehran

Nejatian, the head of the nursing system organization, announces the identification of cases that indicate the importance of examining the professional qualifications of nursing staff.

Referring to the launch of the nurse inquiry system, he says: Strange things happened after the launch of this system. One of Tehran's quasi-government hospitals contacted us and announced that the name of one of the supervisors of this hospital, despite working in the medical center for many years, was not in the nurses' inquiry system, and they claimed that the system might not be working properly.

According to Nejatian, "After investigating the issue, it was found that this person basically did not have a nursing degree and had been working in the hospital for years without having a valid degree. Other cases were also identified in the investigations carried out."

The head of the nursing system organization considers home care as one of the most worrisome areas of activity of unqualified people; An area that becomes more important with the increase of the elderly population and the need of patients for long-term care: "Home care in the future can be a great help to the health system to provide services to the elderly and incurable and chronic patients, but it seems that the health system still does not properly understand the importance of this area and does not pay enough attention to it. The important problem here is that we basically do not know what percentage of people who work in the field of home care are real and professionally qualified nurses and what percentage are pretend nurses.

A system for identifying nurse images

One of the measures taken by the nursing system organization to deal with the activities of unqualified people is to set up a nurse inquiry system; A system that allows checking the professional status of people claiming to be nurses.

Nejatian explains about this: Now the conditions for asking nurses have been provided. If a person goes to a hospital or home and says that he is a nurse, his status can be searched and checked through the system of the nursing system organization. This issue has also been announced to home care centers.

According to him, "launching this system is one of the special services of the organization in the field of identifying nurses. Families can check their profile and professional status before entrusting a person with the responsibility of specialized care of the patient through the inquiry system of the Nursing System Organization at estelam.ino1.ir/search.

supervision; A responsibility without sufficient tools

Nejatian states that one of the basic problems of dealing with fake nurses is the limitation of the supervisory powers of the nursing system organization and says: The phenomenon of fake nurses is one of the important problems of this field that has shown itself strongly. Various institutions have asked the nursing system organization to enter into this issue, but the organization does not have enough legal tools for monitoring.

According to the head of the nursing system organization, "although the law has set duties for this organization, the appropriate tools for the full implementation of supervision have not been provided. Of course, the main responsibility for monitoring nursing services rests with the Ministry of Health, but if the nursing system organization is given the authority to monitor nursing services in the private sector and home care centers, we are fully prepared to carry out this responsibility."

Nejatian also informs about the effort to strengthen the supervisory position of the organization in the proposal to amend the law of the nursing system; According to him, this action can provide a more effective way to deal with the activities of unqualified people.