Coffee Round 2
This was the second ‘Coffee Rounds’ event hosted by University of Edinburgh nursing students to bring awareness to the Nursing Now campaign and to show support of nurses working ‘on the shop floor’. This event was held on June 1st at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh when we were fortunate to have Alex McMahon, Executive Director Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professionals and Professor Aisha Holloway, Head of Nursing Studies at the University of Edinburgh in attendance. Once again, it was amazing to see the smiles that were generated by the simple act of handing out a coffee. Jiayan Tang, MsC Advancing Nursing Practice student, reflects further on this experience:
I am so glad to attend the “Nursing Now” activity. We offered free coffee and chatted with nurses in the Western General Hospital. We expressed our gratitude for their hard work. At the same time, we also asked some questions, such as “What is the most challenging part of nursing” and “What is the most rewarding part of nursing”. Generally, when talking about the challenges, most nurses mentioned the time management, patients’ non-compliance, unrealistic expectation from patients and their families, the lack of staff, finances and resources, etc. Besides, they felt rewarding to see patients getting better and return to their normal life. Patients’ smile and appreciation can make them feel happy and empowered to continue their nursing work. Their answers can help policymakers know how to support nurses and raise the profile and status of nurses. In addition, people attending the activity were from many different countries, such as Canada, China, Ghana, etc. In this way, this activity provided me and other people w
ith different national background the opportunity to know the difference in nurses’ work, attitudes and opinions in different countries or working setting. Moreover, policymakers and nurses themselves can work together to lead, learn and build a global movement and then improve health globally.
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