Dr Bertrand Agilinko, the Acting Medical Superintendent of the Sandema District Hospital, has advised clinical health professionals not to over concentrate on Intravenous (IV) administration of some drugs to the neglect of other forms of treatment.

He said health professionals, especially Physician Assistants and nurses, spent much time on performing venipuncture in emergency cases to administer medications to the neglect of other routes such as oral and rectal, which sometimes results in death.

"Other routes of administering medication such as oral and rectal could be used", he added.

Dr Agilinko gave the advice at a refresher clinical conference workshop on fluid management, organised at the instance of the In-Service Training Unit of the Hospital in the Builsa North District of the Upper East Region, in collaboration with the Physician Assistants (PAs) Department.

It was to upgrade the knowledge of clinical staff including anaesthetics, nurses and physician assistants on the appropriate fluid to administer in both medical and surgical conditions.

"We sometimes see nurses and PAs spending hours and struggling to get IV lines to administer medications to save patients. If some of them concentrate on other options like passing a Nasogastric Tube (NG tube), while others work at accessing IV lines, it would probably help patients in some emergency situations," Dr Agilinko said.

He said even though oral administration of medications worked slowly as compared to IV, it was better to adopt that option in some cases instead of "wasting time accessing IV lines" while there were other options.

Dr Agilinko commended the In-Service Training Unit for organising the programme and encouraged it to organise more to enable the clinical staff to appreciate the reasons for the procedures they perform on patients.
He advised nurses, midwives and PAs to share ideas on case managements and follow due process in managing medical and surgical cases at the various wards.

"No short cuts, and don't stop reading as professionals, it will help you improve your knowledge."

Mr Eric Nii Gborbitey, a Physician Assistant and Clinical Coordinator, called for attitudinal change among staff to improve health service delivery and urged them to be committed to duty and be professional.
He urged participants to share the knowledge acquired and allow same to reflect in the services they rendered to patients at the various units.
Some staff who spoke to the Ghana News Agency after the workshop expressed gratitude to the Training Unit for the initiative.

"It was very good and practical. We, as nurses, need to implement what we have learnt to improve our services. I wish it would be done on a large scale for all of us, but considering this COVID-19 pandemic, it will be difficult," Mr Bless Acheampong, a nurse at the Female Ward, said.

Participants at the workshop discussed some medical case scenarios, which ranged from Malnutrition, Dehydration in Children, Management of Hypertension and Diabetic Mellitus in adults.