By Beryl Okendo.

Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital received a visit from the Nursing Council of Kenya. The courtesy visit was aimed at strengthening the quality of critical care nursing within the facility while assessing whether Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital Training School is suitable to begin offering a Critical Care Nursing course.

To achieve its mission of providing accessible, responsive, quality healthcare services through innovation, training, and research, JOOTRH runs an accredited training school approved and certified to offer a Higher Diploma in Nephrology Nursing. Through this program, the institution has been able to produce qualified professional nephrology nurses who after graduating, have helped improve the renal services offered by the facility.

The institution has also had a vision of providing a course on critical care nursing in a bid to increase the quality of the same service across its departments, and increase human resources specialized in the same.

Critical care nursing is the field of nursing with a focus on the utmost care of critically ill or unstable patients following extensive injury, surgery, or life-threatening diseases. The vitality of critical care nursing runs across all the departments within a health facility. Its importance therefore should be prioritized in any health facility that focuses on delivering sustainable health results.

Critical care nurses can be found working in various specialties within a health facility such as general intensive care units, pediatrics and emergency and trauma units.

The emergency and trauma unit at JOOTRH is a 24-hour active unit where casualty cases are handled. This unit has been at the forefront of taking care of patients with critical care needs and has been burdened by the increasing number of casualties especially those attributed to road accidents and other extreme injuries.

It is in this regard that JOOTRH is pursuing accreditation to offer the course on critical care nursing to increase the number of critical care nurses attending to patients hence increasing the nurse-to-patient ratio.

The Nursing Council of Kenya is mandated to accredit education providers and programs of study for the nursing and midwifery professions. This, they do ensure that nurses get quality education by ensuring that institutions providing training at all levels meet the specified standards.

JOOTRH upholds the highest levels of standards in healthcare providence and is committed to ensuring that it continuously delivers quality health services. It is also in the interest of the facility that it not only provides training for young upcoming nurses but also the nurses at the facility, especially in the discipline of critical care nursing.

The accreditation, if awarded will therefore go a long way in ensuring that the nurses at JOOTRH are equipped with the relevant expertise, therefore, ensuring the delivery of sustainable health services