Local health authorities are encouraging nurses to take more responsibility for health promotion, as they are the frontline medical staff whom patients have the most contact with, the Shanghai Health Commission said while organizing the city's first nurses' health promotion competition.
Since September, 469 works by nurses at 160 hospitals have been entered in the competition. The works, which cover information on chronic disease and cancer prevention and control, healthy lifestyle instruction, and public health and medical emergency knowledge, promote health knowledge and counteract rumors and misunderstanding through fun and interesting formats. These include talk shows and short plays in easy-to-understand language.
Twenty-four teams participated in the final on Thursday.
Nurses promote health knowledge through a short play.
Officials said the competition provides a stage for local nurses to showcase and share their talents and abilities on scientific promotion as well as improving public respect and support of nurses, whose own occupational pride and dignity has also increased.
Shanghai has about 111,300 nurses, a leap of 8 percent from 2020, following measures taken by the local government to promote the development of nursing services and health-care quality.
The city's doctor-to-nurse ratio is 1:1.25, which is greater than the national level but still far lower than the international level of 1:2.7.
The health commission said it was keen to promote nursing and the training of nurses and intended to establish an academic promotion system to encourage and improve the quality and number of nurses.
The cross talk format is ideal for promoting health knowledge.
