Today marks the 109th International Nurses Day, a very special day.
The theme of the 109th International Nurses Day is to pay tribute to our team of nurses and join hands to fight the disease. I would like to hereby extend sincere greetings and pay high respect to our nursing professionals in Shanghai on behalf of Shanghai Municipal Health Commission. Happy International Nurses Day!
Along with the development of health care endeavors, the rank and file of nurses in Shanghai is expanding these years. Currently there are 97,100 nurses in Shanghai, accounting for 45.5% of all health professionals. The number of our nurses has increased by 28.8% in the past 5 years. Of all nurses, those with university degree make up 37.76%. The ratio of male nurses is approximately 2.1%, and 59.64% nurses are below 35 years old.
At present our concept of nursing service has been shifted from the focus on diseases to the focus on patients. The service mode has been further transferred to the needs centering on patients’ physical and mental health so that we can provide holistic nursing to our patients. The nursing profession in Shanghai is demonstrating the following three characteristics:
The first is that both the professional competence and the service capacity of nurses have been raised thanks to the on-going improvement of their training system. We have developed a three-tiered training system composed of novice on-the-job training, professional nurses’ training for competence and specialized nurse skill upgrading. Since 2005, Shanghai Nursing Association has offered training for over 15,000 nurses in the fields of ICU care, ostomy, wound and continence care and blood purification, to name just a few, and substantially enhanced the specialized nursing skills of our nurses in Shanghai. So far, we have a number of specialized nursing programs highly laudable by our patients, such as the PICC care in Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, breast disease care in Ruijing Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University, diabetes care management in Renji Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University and difficult-to-heal wounds care outpatient service in the First Affiliated Hospital of Naval Military Medical University (Shanghai Changhai Hospital).
The second is that nursing service has been extended to communities and households thanks to the constant advancement of quality nursing. Shanghai kicked off “Quality Nursing Campaign” as early as in 2010 so as to further promote quality nursing resources to the communities. Up till now, quality nursing service has fully covered all secondary and tertiary hospitals in Shanghai while community health service centers keep developing their characteristic quality nursing service. By leveraging on the “Internet + Nursing Service” and long-term care insurance scheme, we are able to extend the quality nursing service to communities and households. Recent years witness a surge of brands providing door-to-door continuing care. The Meixiaohu (Little Beautiful Care) from Shanghai Changning District Tianshan Community Health Service Center is one of them and provides 2,000+ door-to-door nursing service sessions each year.
The third is that our academic level has been constantly improved with the on-going development of nursing talent. Shanghai has always attached great importance to academic education and comprehensive ability advancement of nursing profession. The city has 3 medical colleges awarding doctoral degrees in nursing and 5 medical colleges recruiting postgraduate nursing students. We have made active efforts to carry out research on clinical nursing, launch exhibition and review of innovative nursing equipment, and reward the achievements made in clinical nursing with a view to continuously improving nursing quality. Shanghai has also been actively involved in international nursing academic community. The School of Nursing, Fudan University has made it to the list of world's top 100 nursing schools for two years in a row. Prof. Hu Yan, Vice Dean of the School, and two of her colleagues have been inducted as the Fellows of the American Academy of Nursing. Around 50 nurses in Shanghai have joined international nursing organizations or other academic organizations to serve as members.
Underpinned by its specialized development, the nursing team of Shanghai has laid a solid foundation in the fight against Covid-19 as a major player. In face of the spread of the novel coronavirus, the nursing professionals in Shanghai actively responded to the call of the nation, left their loved ones to protect the lives of the sick and unhesitatingly plunged into the tough battle against COVID-19.
Among members of our Shanghai medical team supporting Hubei, there were 1,041 nurses. They accounted for 63.13% of our total medical workers to Hubei. They fearlessly put themselves in harm's way and helped the people of Hubei to tide over difficulties. The youngest of them is only 22, and the oldest is 55. Among these nurses, 44% of them were the millennium generation born after 1990s and constituted the main force of the entire nursing team.
In the treatment of the confirmed COVID-19 cases in Shanghai, over 400 nurses from about 20 hospitals across the city entered the negative pressure wards of the designated hospitals at the municipal level to take care of the patients with mild symptoms as well as the patients with severe illness, control the nosocomial infection and manage the wards with scientific approaches. They effectively and precisely implemented the protocols, technologies and methods for treating Covid-19. Thanks to their heroic efforts, our patients finally recovered and were discharged from hospitals.
In the meanwhile, we had many other nurses working hard on the front line across the city. Some of them served in the fever clinics of medical institutions at all levels, some at transportation checkpoints, and some in quarantine facilities for medical observation. They have made great contribution to contain the disease in their different positions.
Nursing profession is noble and sacred. These angels in white gowns guard the patients’ lives at the risk of their own and send great comfort to them. As a critical force on the medical front line of Shanghai, our nursing staff, with their highly-skilled expertise and professional ethics, have played an irreplaceable role in protecting the lives and health of our citizens and improving our well-being. Let us pay our highest respect and extend our sincere gratitude to them again. Wish our nursing professionals a very happy International Nurses Day!
Next, I would like share the latest information on COVID-19 cases in Shanghai.
I. Cases:
From 0: 00 to 24: 00 on May 11, Shanghai has reported no additional imported confirmed case of COVID-19.
From 0: 00 to 24: 00 on May 11, Shanghai has had no additional local confirmed case of COVID-19.
As of 24:00 on May 11, Shanghai has reported a total of 320 imported confirmed cases. 295 of them have been discharged from hospital, and the other 25 are receiving treatment in hospitals (1 in critical condition and 1 in severe condition). There is one imported suspected case pending for screening.
As of 24:00 on May 11, Shanghai has reported a total of 339 local confirmed cases. Among them, 332 have been discharged, and 7 died. At the time of the release, there is no local suspected case pending for screening.
As of 24:00 on May 11, Shanghai has had no asymptomatic carrier under medical observation.
This morning, another four Chinese male patients were discharged from hospital. Once identified as COVID-19 confirmed cases, they were transferred to Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center. After the meticulous treatment and care by our medical workers, and upon the assessment of the expert team, they have met the criteria of release and discharge issued by the National Health Commission for the COVID-19 cases and left hospital today. In order to ensure the health management of the discharged patients, related medical institutions in Shanghai will conduct necessary follow-up visits and observation for them.
II. Medical Treatment
We will work all out to ensure medical treatment of the COVID-19 patients in Shanghai. We will keep enhancing the management of fever clinics and strengthen the procedures of pre-test, triage and those in the fever clinics to avoid cross infection.
By balancing both normalized COVID-19 prevention and control and regular medical services, medical institutions at all levels in Shanghai will further strengthen appointment-based medical services in staggered periods, optimize the treatment procedures, and carry out services in an orderly manner on the basis of preventing nosocomial infection to better satisfy the public needs.
Shanghai Municipal Health Commission will continue the supervision over the prevention of nosocomial infection in medical institutions and the COVID-19 prevention in schools while ensuring the sanitary supervision over and inspection of various places and sites in Shanghai.
Taking the status quo of COVID-19 both at home and abroad into consideration, Shanghai will further improve and implement various measures. As directed by the CPC Shanghai Committee and the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government in making unremitting efforts and paying close attention to details in each aspect of normalized disease prevention and control, we will fully implement the strategy of preventing the coronavirus from entering and spreading within the city. By deploying tight check at the entrance, paying attention to and maintaining good order in residential areas and hotels, managing transient populations, serving businesses in the work and production resumption, protecting students and faculty members in schools, and bringing into full play the sentries for inspection, we will enhance the whole-chain closed loop management of normalized disease prevention and control, pursue timely identification, fast response, and targeted control, and effectively strengthen COVID-19 prevention and control in various places such as medical institutions, schools and communities.
By launching the patriotic public health campaigns, we will improve the living environment and help our citizens raise stronger awareness and ability of self-protection. We still require our citizens to continue the scientific use of face masks, reduce gatherings, enhance ventilation and disinfection, and develop healthy lifestyles to work together for normalized disease prevention and control.