The role of the sister in a rural hospital

Abstract

Nurses sometimes seem to think that nursing in rural hospitals is less stimulating than that in city hospitals with all their super-sophisticated equipment and modern intensive care units: on the other hand, if we consider the concept of health which visualises a state of physical, mental and socio-economic wellbeing for the individual, his family and the community in which he lives and not merely the absence of disease, then we see nursing in rural hospitals as a great challenge for the nurse. As in rural areas life is less busy than in cities, the number of patients in a hospital is usually manageable. Hence the nurse has the opportunity to treat her patients in their “ totality” - physically, mentally and spiritually.