Nurse on humanitarian mission
Terre d’Azur is committed to providing care, training, education and equipment. Nurses play a key role in Terre d’Azur’s medical missions.
The nursing profession develops skills in these different areas and contributes to the care of patients and their families in their environment, according to quality criteria and best practices.
In humanitarian work, it is this knowledge that we have to adapt to the local, social, cultural and political health context of the country where we intervene. And it is with a lot of flexibility, humility, logic, creativity, and “system D” that we act.
Multiple limitations
It is important to know that we will be confronted with:
- the dilapidated infrastructure and equipment;
- the shortage or absence of consumables;
- the lack of hygiene and asepsis;
- the cost of health services;
- the cultural impact and rituals;
- the poverty of the population.
However, what is always found is the motivation of local caregivers and the welcome and kindness of the population. Moreover, the functions of the Togolese or Senegalese nurse, for example, are numerous and different from ours on certain points such as:
- performing a delivery;
- making sutures;
- diagnosing pathologies and prescribing appropriate treatments.
Expertise and sharing
From there, a nurse on a humanitarian mission, who has the pleasure of sharing her knowledge, of learning, and the desire to work differently, will carry out an experience and a human and relational adventure that cannot be told, but that can be lived.
Beyond her knowledge, the nurse will be especially solicited in her know-how and interpersonal skills, which will be nourished by contact with the other, the local caregivers, but also the team with whom we have the pleasure of building beautiful relationships and sharing this complementarity.
In the field, the nurse’s activities can be multiple and daily life does not only focus on care, but also in a role of cog in the material organization, supervision and evolution of care.