| CONCEPT AND ISSUE |
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| Year : 2020 | Volume
: 21
| Issue : 2 | Page : 117-121 |
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Unrecognised roles of nursing professionals and midwives in mitigating COVID-19 pandemic across all spectrum of continuum of care
Sukhpal Kaur1, Rajavel Saranya2, Murugan Sathiabalan2, Soundappan Kathirvel3
1 Lecturer National Institute of Nursing Education (NINE) Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, India
2 Senior Resident Department of Community Medicine and School of Public Health, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
3 Assistant Professor Department of Community Medicine and School of Public Health, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
Correspondence Address:
Dr. Murugan Sathiabalan
1264, First Floor, Sector 15B, Chandigarh
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None
DOI: 10.4103/IJCN.IJCN_37_20
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Every year, the World Health Organization (WHO) celebrates World Health Day on 7th April marking the foundation day of the WHO in 1948. The theme for the year 2020 is 'Support Nurses and Midwives' to mark Florence Nightingale's bicentennial year. Globally, the nurses and midwives comprise more than 50% of the health-care workforce. They are one of the important health human resources needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal on health and well-being by 2030. The services include promotive, preventive, curative and rehabilitative health-care services covering the whole spectrum in the continuum of care. The midwives primarily provide the primary health-care services primarily at community level. Similarly, various cadres of nurses deliver various healthcare services primarily at the facility level. During the Coronavirus disease- 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic the frontline Health Care Workers (HCWs) like nurses and midwives play a vital role in breaking the chain of transmission and providing supportive care to the suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients. This manuscript describes in detail, the unrecognised roles of nurses and midwives in prevention and control of COVID-19 across all spectrums of continuum of care. This can be identified at community and health facility level from providing health education or behaviour change communication, screening/surveillance (active or passive), contact tracing, clinical care, mental health support, hospitality services, inventory management, monitoring/supervision of personal protective equipment use and biomedical waste management, isolation ward and quarantine centre management, recording and reporting and follow-up of patient/population.
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