I think that we are all still reeling from the BBC Panorama programme showing the abuse of an elderly lady at Ash Court Care Home. This was abuse in the first degree and it is clear that this is not acceptable on any level. This poisonous culture of not caring and treating a fellow human being so inhumanely is not the norm in nursing, but suffice to say that even just one case is always one case too many. However the abuse that took place at Ash Court is not what I want to talk about – I want to talk about how we can stop this from happening again through a united nursing community.
What surprised me most last night was the way in which the nursing community picked up on these abhorrent scenes on Panorama and presented a united front in condoning this “care” Through multi channel engagement the nursing community was able to converse whilst this programme was aired sharing their gut reactions with fellow nurses and the wider community. This media stacking proved a vital resource to allow nurses to shout out that we too condone this abuse and want to stamp it out. My own twitter stream was inundated with comments from fellow nurses outraged by the actions of the healthcare assistants shown on the programme – but not only were the nurses united in condemnation but also they were united in a resolution to rid our care environments of this abuse.
In my humble opinion online communities in nursing now seem so much more vital than they ever have been. The engagement and bringing together of nurses throughout the Panorama programme really does show what a good and powerful force we can be. I very much feel that through online support and engagement nursing can find the strength and the voice to say “this is not acceptable” The nursing community has never been stronger we can rid our healthcare environments of this abuse if we draw strength from each other in the virtual world and the take the lead within the real world.
The small things matter, the “hellos” when you enter a patients room, the smiles and chatting to our patients and there is no doubt in my mind that change comes from each and every nurse and that we should all lead by example – but nurses can and do find strength in the fact that there are others out there who are leading the way too and through social media we are finding each other and uniting. I have often heard people say that a problem shared is a problem halved – sharing is now so much easier, nursing has strength in social networking lets use it !
