DOEACC Information technology course available for working nurses?

Nation has a high potential and demand for quality and efficient nurses in the country as well as in international employment market. This is due to the high efficiency and standards that have been maintained by professional services and dedication at high levels as shown by the nurses mainly from the country’s North East region. However, on a set back note these nurses have shown a notable absence in the knowledge of using information technology and computer skills and they are not up to date with the current developments in computer world. This has resulted in nurses from this region finding it difficult to function as efficiently as they are capable of and for the new trainee nurses to secure jobs in the competitive field of nursing. The Society has identified these problems and realized that a sufficient and sound knowledge for nurses in the field of computers is necessary, so that they would be able to function very efficiently within their working environments and be able to challenge any competition in the world with added backing of their inherent efficiency and nursing qualities.

Therefore the society has developed a special curriculum that is designed to benefit the working and aspiring nurses especially from the North East region of the country. This syllabus has been introduced and mainly coordinated from the DOEACC center in Aizawl with interactions with other main health care and hospital service providers in the region. The course mainly covers on six special elements that involve the nurse’s daily interaction procedure with patients and medical officers. They are as following:

• Various and differentiating cultural back grounds of the patients.
• What does the patient anticipate and expect from the nurse.
• Physical and geographical location and environment of the service required.
• Communication, interrelationship and information connected with the service.
• The nurses’ participation and contribution to the task in hand.
• Relationship between the nurse and the patient.

Above topics mainly covers the entire frame of services and tasks that has to be executed by a nurse in order to complete the service with the utmost amount of efficiency and success and these themes have been developed and incorporated in the course with the aim of enhancing specially identified weak points and skills that could be augmented further for the nurses in India. The course curriculum includes practical training of computer systems and information technology that is used within the health care industry.

As in other DOEACC courses the IT course for the nurses also consists of both practical training and class room study systems. Practical training entails work in laboratory sessions and also interactive interpersonal relationship development sessions and the course has a total time duration of approximately over 160 hours which runs through a period of two months. Daily sessions will be a combination of practical and class room studies.  The total time of 160 hours consists of different subjects that have an average hour rate of 40 hours for training and development of English knowledge for the trainees, nurses. Another 12 hours dedicated for the training and development of individual personalities with another 40 hours concentrated on the subject of training and enhancing their communication skills and a further 10 on adapting procedure for all types of cultures, 5 hours each for the training of patients anticipations with regard to nursing care and familiarizing the nurses on the use of alternative and complementary treatments and therapies and a total of another 48 hours spent on familiarization of basic computer concepts and medical computer knowledge.

Eligibility criteria for this course is nurses who already possess a nursing degree from any government recognized nursing or health care institute or alternatively nurses who are currently following the final year program of nursing degree. The course fee charged for nursing IT course by DOEACC is Rs. 15,000. However, a major portion of this fee amounting to Rs. 13,000 is funded by the DONER. Therefore the nursing students will be expected to remit only a fee of Rs. 2,000 in respect of course fee to the society.

Selection of candidates to follow the course is done on strictly screening and selection basis and the process is handled by a committee appointed by the Society comprising of a mix of high ranking officials involved in the course and health care ministry of the Government together with other health care officials from the north east region of the country. It is the responsibility of this committee to screen and select candidates to follow up the course and on successful completion of the course to ensure they receive suitable placements and positions in health care and medical professions of their undertaking and liaison.