Fighting Cancer in Africa - Voices of doctors and patients (IAEA) April 2006
It's my job: The nurse
Elizabeth Nagudi: Nurse
Summary:
With 60 to 80 patients to look after each day in the cancer treatment unit at Mulago hospital, Nurse Elizabeth Nagudi is very busy. As well as dispensing drugs and monitoring treatment, the nurses also counsel and reassure their patients. Helping to make a patient feel better gives great satisfaction to Elizabeth, and she hopes with better screening methods, more of her patients will get the treatment they need early.
Suggested introduction:
For many patients, the cancer team member they get to know best is the nurse. It is the nurses who greet each patient and guide them to the treatment or to see a doctor. Just as important, they are always on hand to listen to patient concerns and give advice on matters such as side-effects or diet.
Elizabeth Nagudi has been working in the cancer treatment unit at Mulago hospital for ten years. Her job is both demanding and satisfying.
Tape in:
My name is Elizabeth...
Tape out:
...there is hope for cure.
Closing Announcement:
A media toolkit for reporting on cancer and its treatment. This pack has been produced for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
Transcript
Elizabeth
My name is Elizabeth Stuma Nagudi. I have been a nurse in Uganda in the Department of Radiotherapy for 10 years now. At the moment I am sitting at my desk in the Department of Radiotherapy and in the background you can hear the sounds of my patients of course needing attention from me. Our clinics are normally very busy and we, most times, see between 60-80 patients in a day and they all need attention of the nurse.
Now I can bring you to yet another room and this is the nurse's room. We sit here when we are to have a cup of tea but also we can counsel our patients here. And we also use it on one side of the corner, we use it as our pharmacy, we dispense our drugs, supportive drugs to the patients. Of course, when patients are diagnosed with cancer there are so many fears they have in their hearts. They think of death at that time and they do not think that they will live any longer. But we have to talk to them and assure them that there is a possibility of treatment and when they get that treatment they can still live on. But, me as a nurse, I make sure that I take care of them. I just want to tell you that it is a good profession because if you deal with a patient and a patient feels better you will enjoy your job. And I feel that in the future in our country maybe we may have better screening methods that most of these cancers can be discovered early and many of our patients can get treatment early where there is hope for cure. End of track
