‘’The next time I go to give birth, I will take vayolence (sic) with me. Any maternity nurse or attendant that’s mean to me, I will swipe you slap. Make we fight if you vex. “Meanwhile, if you’re a nurse or maternity attendant and you’re a vicious, wicked, mean, insensitive witch in white, thunder fire you and your evil unfortunate friends.’’
Those were the words of a mother after her birthing experience at a hospital.
There have been stories of nurses in hospitals being cruel to women in the labour room during childbirth.
Unlike in the past, a lot more women are sharing their experiences now and social media has presented a platform for their voices to be heard.
Anauma Agbe (not real name) recently bared her mind in a post on her Facebook page and what seemed like a simple response to “what’s on your mind” as the app would usually prompt, opened a can of worms, as many women came in the comment section to narrate their horrifying birthing ordeals.
The women had very unkind words for the nurses and midwives, and described them using strong words like “wicked” “nasty” and “mean.”
21st CENTURY CHRONICLE sought to find out reasons why nurses, especially female nurses, come under such negative criticism by these women.
Gory details of nurses attitude
Kpamkwase Philomena is a mother of three. When she realised she was pregnant with her second child two years ago, the fear of nurses kept her at home.
She finally decided to go to the hospital one Sunday morning and the first nurse she met on arrival, in a harsh tone, asked her what she wanted, to which she replied that she was in labour.
According to Philomena, the nurse snapped at her on hearing those words.
“The problem I have with women of nowadays is that small stomach ache and they come running to the hospital, the nurse said. I was shocked beyond words.”
Philomena’s story didn’t end there. She said, after the nurse said that to her, she just walked on, joined her colleagues, and they sat comfortably in their seats and were having some discussions about clothes, the head midwife and other stories. She was, however, saved when an older nurse, in her early 50’s came out from the inner room and ushered her into the main labour room and gave her a bed and did all checks.
Philomena said she gave birth 30 minutes later, yet the nurses were less bothered and not remorseful.
She recalled that in the same hospital, that same night, another woman who had tried to give birth at home, probably from fear of the same nurses, lost the baby in utero and the nurses started quarreling the woman, showing her no sympathy.
“She needed surgery to remove the baby and the nurses showered insults on her, her mother and brother who brought her to the hospital. At this point, I had to ask the head midwife to transfer me to the main ward because I was becoming emotional. I don’t think I ever want to go to any public hospital in my subsequent antenatal or deliveries. Those nurses in public hospitals are mean.’’
Another lady, identified simply as Comfort, narrated how she slapped a nurse when her elder sister was in labour for more than 6 hours at one of the Federal Medical Centres.
According to her, she had asked the nurse to call the doctor because she was afraid for her sister and the baby after such prolonged labour, and the nurse replied in pidgin English, “we wei de here no sabi work abi? If she no go push the pikin comot, she go die dere nah.”
Comfort said she lost it at this point and gave the nurse a slap across her face.
“I’m sure she’ll never forget that slap for the rest of her career,” she said.
Comfort admitted that she was a bit dramatic but at least it elicited action as her sister was assisted to birth the baby successfully.
‘How nurses screamed at me, called me useless man’
Austin Mathew, 51, shared his experience in one of the hospitals in Abuja, where he took his wife to, with 21st CENTURY CHRONICLE. He said the nurses gave him a list of items to buy including hand gloves, spirit, olive oil, soap and others things the hospital was ordinarily supposed to have.
Mathew said he left the ward to get the items just by the side street close to the hospital, but to his shock, when he returned, he heard his name being screamed by the nurses, describing him as a “useless man who just came here and abandoned his wife, and is now nowhere to be found.’’
He said from all indications, the nurse was careless to have forgotten that she had sent him to get these essential items for his wife’s delivery and when he confronted the nurse, she just bowed her head in shame, but still didn’t have the courtesy to apologise.
‘Wicked nurses’ mostly in public hospitals – Patient
It would seem as though many of these nurses described here are mostly found in public hospitals, as Julie Mimie Attah, said she had never met any of such nurses described as nasty or mean.
However, she doesn’t attend antenatal or goes for delivery at any public hospital because ’’It’s hard to see such wicked souls in private hospitals.’’ She added that when she wanted to deliver her baby in a private hospital, the nurse on duty practically supported her.
This outcry overshadowed a few comments who recognised that there are a “few good men” among the nurses, even as one woman opined that, even though it was impossible to have only bad nurses in hospitals, “little foxes spoil the vine”, as the seeming few badly reputed nurses seemed to be spoiling the reputation of the other good ones that exist.
Are hospital authorities aware of these reports by patients who have continued to lament about nasty nurses in hospitals? 21st CENTURY CHRONICLE spoke to some nurses and doctors.
Why we act nasty to save lives – Nurse
Sister Kpadoo Ahough, a practicing nurse/midwife at Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi, explained that when women in labour come to hospital and “refuse to cooperate” with the nurses when they offer professional advise to make birthing easy, the nurses are constrained to come down heavily on them to elicit their cooperation.
Ahough cited an instance where a woman was refusing to open her legs for the baby to come out at a stage when the risk was high and the child could have died.
She had to take action to get the mother to open up. She also said women don’t know the full details of the danger of childbirth so she as a nurse, doesn’t compromise her job and the life of unborn babies for fear of cheap blackmail by patients.
Patents have rights to complaint – Medical director
Medical Director of Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi, Dr. Peteru Msuega Inudugh, in a phone interview, said even though he had never received any such complaints, patients have the open channel of communication to report any mistreatment by nurses at his hospital.
‘’If any patient has any such complaints, they should feel free to come clear on it, and the authorities will take action appropriately,’’ he said.
Nurses are mostly overworked – Doctor
A consultant surgeon in Jos, Plateau State, Dr Yakubu Dido, said in his lifetime as a doctor, he had at a few times dealt with such cases as reported by patients.
“However, most times, the nurses are overworked and so there are chances of transferred aggression to their clients,” he explained.
He also noted that relatives of patients sometimes blow situations out of proportion because they don’t understand the rudiments of the profession.
“But if a nurse is found guilty of going against ethics, such a nurse is called to order and sometimes sanctioned.”
We sanction erring nurses – NMCN registrar
The Nurses and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN) is the regulatory body for the nursing profession. Parts of its code conduct as contained on their website at reads: “The nurse must relate with a consumer in a professional manner only. Respect, courtesy and care are central in the expectations of nurses’ relations with their clients or patience.”
What then happens when a nurse on duty violates any of these codes of conduct? 21st CENTURY CHRONICLE also sought to find out how the council has handled cases of nurses that were reported, if any, for unethical relations.
NMCN Registrar, Faruk Umar Abubakar, said one of his priorities is to improve the nursing and midwifery profession in Nigeria, hence in the new council reform, new modules of mandatory continuous professional development programmes have been developed for the training and retraining of nurses and midwives to maintain professionalism and the quality of nursing in Nigeria.
He said state directors of nursing services at the state ministries of health are responsible for taking complaints from hospital attendees and when any nurse is reported, a tribunal investigates such cases and if found guilty, such nurses or midwives get appropriate sanctions.
