The Uganda DAISY Awards: What went wrong
The Global Nursing Fraternity celebrated International Nurses Week last week, Friday 6th - Thursday 12th May, culminating in a busy and joyous celebration on 12th May. The date is special because it is the birthday of Florence Nightingale – considered the mother of Nursing; although equally significant contributions to the early profession by Mary Seacole (of black descent) have recently come to light. Their mission to Crimea, and the care they offered the soldiers in the war, saved lives and gave birth to our noble profession. The nurses’ week is therefore used to celebrate and recognise the contribution of the largest health workforce to health systems, leadership, and our communities.
But it has not always been like this. The first proposal to mark the celebration of Nurses Day was presented to President Eisenhower (USA) in 1953. The following year, National Nurses week was observed from October 11 -16, marking the 100th anniversary of Florence Nightingale's mission to Crimea. In 1955, a bill for Nurses Week was presented to congress, but it was rejected. In an embodiment of resilience, in 1972, a resolution was presented by the House of Representatives for the president to declare National registered nurse day, and this was also rejected. The struggle continued with a series of rejected bills, proposals, short lived proclamations until 1982, when ANA acknowledged May 6th is National Nurses Day and president Ronald Reagan signed a proclamation for National Recognition Day for Nurses to be celebrated on the same date. Eight years later, the decision by ANA Board of Directors to designate May 6 - 12 as permanent dates to observe National Nurses Week was made. National Student Nurses Day, celebrated on May 8th was proposed in 1997. The entire process lasted 44 years, and since then, we continue to take one week in a year to celebrate.
International Nurses Day is celebrated to “honour nurses as an invaluable resource and raise awareness of the challenges they face” according to WHO. This year’s theme was: “A voice to Lead - Invest in Nursing and Respect Rights to Secure Global Health”.
Nurses and Midwives account for 50% of the global health workforce according to WHO. In Uganda about 75,000 nurses and midwives are registered with the Uganda Nurses and Midwives council. In rural areas in Uganda, Nurses and Midwives continue to run majority Health Centre IIs and IIIs, and deliver upto 80% of the primary health care. We can therefore not overemphasize the role of these professionals. COVID-19 shone a light on Nurses and Midwives, pushing them for the first time ever into the spotlight. We saw a movement to recognise and reward Frontline Health workers like never before, from clapping in the streets of the UK to awards back home. The narrative on recognition, involvement of frontline health workers in policy development, analysis, creating award systems has persisted since the outbreak of the pandemic and continues to dominate many fora.
The world has finally shown that it wants to recognise Nurses and Midwives, which is why the public rewarding of the Chairperson of National Organisation of Trade Unions during the International Day of the nurses Celebrations last week, in Uganda, left many wondering if of the 75,000 nurses Uganda has, none was deserving of the “Outstanding Performer” Daisy award for Extraordinary Nurses. It is of course, not the fault of Mr. Owere Usher; he may be an outstanding citizen of good character, and that is not in question here, but rather the events and process that led to him being awarded this nurses award. The outrage from the nursing and midwifery community is indicative enough that they do not trust the awarding process that culminated into him being the awardee. For starters, there was no nomination list, and a sheer lack of transparency or detailed criteria by the Uganda Nurses and Midwives Union, except of course for the fact that he is the Chairman of a coalition of TradeUnions, of which the nursing Union is one.
Many messages on twitter, facebook and whatsapp groups show discontent amongst nurses and midwives, and a continued decline in the trust by increasing demonstration of the power Union has to appoint and reward anyone of their choice without clear protocol or guidelines. This is not the first time Daisy awards are being held in Uganda; the ceremony was also officiated by Union last year, and unlike this year, all awardees were Nurses or Midwives. This year amongst the awardees were Sister Mudukaki who received a certificate of recognition for training midwives in Mulago, Sister Christine Alura who received an award as Public Health Nurse - she lobbied and advocated to have public health nursing in Uganda. But to many people’s disdain, the Outstanding Performance Award was given to a person who is NOT a nurse.
People who make these decisions should know that Nurses and Midwives are ‘woke’, and watching, and we shall not remain silent. There are many nurses and midwives who go above and beyond to provide clinical care to patients. These nurses and midwives have faced so many challenges including poor remuneration, salary discrepancies among medical degree holders among others (medicine, nursing, pharmacy, etc) . Despite these challenges, little has been done by the trade union and nursing union to course correct. To have this award given to the chairman of the trade unions is adding salt to injury.
Setting the wrong precedence
In an exchange with a young nurse leader on twitter, it was argued that Mr. Owere had created an enabling environment for nurses and that the awards have different categories, and he was selected under the “Leadership category”. Mr Owere is a capable leader, and given his position as head of the NOTU, he must be smart and well able. However, he doesn’t meet the criteria for this award, whose nomination form requires one to “fill out what your nurse did” and whose mission is to reward Extraordinary Nurses. We know one thing for certain, the process of awarding by Union is unclear, non transparent and even if it is argued that other nurses and midwives were awarded and therefore we can slip in a friend of nurses into the nurses awards, not only does this set the wrong precedence, but also undermines the work of nurses and midwives whose backs are hunched over from bending over at the bedside, whose eyes are sore from unacceptably long shifts and sleep deprivation, whose ears are wary from insult and abuse, whose bank accounts are in a constant dry fast, and whose families continue to suffer through lonely nights as they provide to care for our relatives and friends. With this type of thinking, next year we might slip in boda bodas and taxi association heads because after all they transport majority nurses and midwives to work. Don’t they too do a great job? Of course they do! Don't get me wrong, nothing beats a boda boda when you are running late, but the nurses awards are not the place for their recognition and appreciation.
Recognition and Awards as a tool for retention
Borrowing a leaf from HIHA last year, Heroes in Health Awards which recognised Frontline Health Workers and Leaders in various categories, the nomination process was public similar to DAISY USA “Fill out a form and tell us why this nurse/midwife/health worker is a Hero” then, conducted screening interviews by telephone, they went ahead and visited the nominated candidates at their workplaces, filmed video interactions with them, conducted investigations and thereafter an individual selection committee comprising of health workers from various sectors (Public Health Facilities, Private Health Facilities, INGOs, Specialists in their fields, and MOH were appointed to select the Award winners. The process was so transparent and fair that when the Four Awardees from the Nursing Community were announced, the fraternity celebrated them, even including them in the Think Tank Newsletter.
Recognition is a great tool for increasing motivation, retaining health workers and increasing satisfaction at work; however, if due diligence is not observed in the nomination selection process, and if organisers do not observe a strict criteria for nomination, as well as offer transparency into the selection processes, it can discourage genuinely hardworking people from doing their best because they know a select few may always have preferential treatment. Besides, Nurses and Midwives are friends to everyone: bankers, engineers, farmers, musicians, but when have you ever seen the most brilliant nurse receive an award for “outstanding performance” at the MTV music awards because s/he treated the musician who then went ahead to produce the number one hit song of the season? That’s what is happening here. Which is why I started a petition: https://chng.it/CNDC6H9z “Give the Daisy Award to a Nurse (Uganda).
We need your voice to join with ours so we can jointly, re-transfer this award (and indeed million other such awards in the future) to a deserving nurse or midwife. And perhaps, with the right amount of pressure, the Uganda Nurses and Midwives Union, shall take note of the shortcomings in this year’s selection process and plan for a fairer, more transparent nomination and awarding process next year. In the words of Desmond Tutu, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor”.
What is this DAISY Award? (Excerpt from official DAISY Awards website)
One of the forms of awards for nurses and midwives has been “The DAISY (Diseases Attacking the Immune System) Awards”. This award was startedby the family of J.Patrick Barnes who died at age 33 of complications of Idiopathic Throbocytopenic Purpura (ITP). The family was touched by the nursing care he received when hospitalized and decided to create a platform for them and others to appreciate nurses who have excelled in care provision and clinical practice. The program honors nurses all year long and not only nurses week. According to their website, they “could not have anticipated that The DAISY Award would come to be regarded as a strategic tool for nurse recruitment, retention, and resilience, adopted by healthcare facilities across the continuum of care all over the U.S. and beyond”. DAISY proudly honors Nurses wherever they practice, in whatever role they serve, and throughout their careers- from nursing student through lifetime achievement and also awards nurse leaders who create the environment in “where compassionate care thrives pays tribute to the leaders who are eager to provide recognition for their teams but don’t get nearly enough recognition themselves.”
The DAISY Award for Nursing Faculty is helping to lift those nurses who educate and nurture future nurses and those advancing their expertise.The mission of the DAISY Foundation expresses gratitude to Nurses with programs that recognize them for the extraordinary compassionate, skillful care they provide patients and families.
“Patrick’s family wanted to say “thank you” to nurses everywhere by establishing a recognition program, The DAISY Award For Extraordinary Nurses (The DAISY Award). Through this and other recognition programs, they honor the super-human work nurses do for patients and families every day”.
In creating The DAISY Award, there were three elements we wanted to ensure our recognition program included:
A partnership with healthcare organizations to provide on-going recognition of the clinical skill and especially the compassion nurses provide to patients and families all year long.
Flexibility so that The DAISY Award may be tailored to each hospital’s unique culture and values.
A turn-key program with The DAISY Foundation providing almost everything you need to implement The DAISY Award.
Since their inception in 1999, there are over 5000 HC facilities and schools of Nursing in all 50 states and 31 other countries and territories committed to honoring nurses with the Daisy Award.The strategic impact of the program on nurses and their organizations is deep, affecting nurses' job satisfaction, retention, teamwork, pride, organizational culture, healthy work environment, and more.
The nomination process
Nurses are nominated by anyone in the organization - patients, family members, other nurses, physicians, other clinicians and staff - anyone who experiences or observes extraordinary compassionate care being provided by a nurse.
According to Daisy website, when nominating a nurse, they encourage one to” please write as much detail as you can not only about what your nurse did that made a difference in your experience but also explain how your nurse’s care made you feel.”
DAISY is dedicated to recognizing nurses for the compassionate care they provide no matter where they practice, in whatever role they serve, throughout their careers. Facility partners may add to their on-going individual nurse recognition program with the our Team Award, Nurse Leader Award, Health Equity Award, Lifetime Achievement Award, Faculty Award or Student Award.
DAISY Honorees can receive reduced tuition, conference scholarships, special rates on certification, just to name a few.
Comments
Post a Comment