Members of Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC)’s nursing community across its network of hospitals and clinics came together recently to celebrate GCC Nursing Day.

Intended to promote the nursing profession as an honourable career and to pay tribute to nursing pioneer Rufaida al-Aslamiya, this is for the fifth year that HMC has celebrated the occasion.

Professor Ann-Marie Cannaby, HMC’s executive director of Corporate Nursing, said: “GCC Nursing Day provides us with an opportunity to recognise our nurses and the important contributions they make to delivering excellent care and improving the health outcomes of our patients.”

Dr Badriya al-Lenjawi, Chair of the organising committee for the GCC Nursing Day events, who also leads the professional development of HMC’s nursing workforce, expressed gratitude towards the nurses who organised hospital-level celebrations. Stating that GCC Nursing Day gives HMC the opportunity to inspire its nurses in the values of dedicated service, professionalism and appreciation of unseen acts of caring, Dr al-Lenjawi also spoke about the positive changes being implemented across HMC’s Nursing Service through the Leadership for Change Programme.

“Through this programme, many of our nurses have developed projects aimed at improving HMC’s Nursing Service and the patient experience. I am proud to say that a number of these projects are being implemented across HMC,” said
Dr al-Lenjawi.

Qatar is the sixth country in the region to implement the Leadership for Change Programme, which was launched last year as a partnership between the World Health Organisation, International Council of Nurses, Supreme Council of Health, HMC and the Primary Health Care Corporation. Fourteen Qatari nurses from HMC are enrolled in the programme.

Khalid al-Qahtani, assistant chief executive officer of HMC’s Home Healthcare Services (HHCS) and Residential Compound, spoke during an event held for HHCS’s nurses, stating that the day offers an opportunity to both celebrate the role of nurses and create awareness of HMC’s Home Healthcare Services.

“Our staff are playing an essential and integral role in the delivery of quality care by providing the services at home and educating family members on caring for the patient,” said al-Qahtani.

HMC’s HHCS provides holistic and specialised support to patients who have been discharged from hospital but require follow-up care and rehabilitation. The HHCS currently provides care for about 900 patients, spread across Qatar.

With more than 7,000 nurses working across hospitals, clinics and the homecare service, and functioning in roles that range from frontline positions in the Emergency Department to senior administrative and policy positions, nurses are the most visible and trusted members of the HMC patient care team.