New Delhi, Nov 10 (UNI) Over one lakh nurses from various hospitals in the country have undergone skill development training under a free online course, to strengthen the fight against COVID-19, Generation India, a youth employment non-profit organisation, said on Monday.
According to the organisation, initiated by Generation India, along with its coalition partners, this four-hour, free online course offers practical, demonstration-based and immediately applicable support in the areas of infection prevention and control in the COVID-19 crisis, use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), the role of nurses in handling COVID-19 patients and self-care.
"As a skills initiative, Generation India wanted to contribute to mitigating the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. In doing so, we created a high-quality immersive online Nurse Upskilling module (with certification) for nurses to become COVID-ready.
'Launched on May 26, already over 100,000 nurses have taken the course with excellent feedback. We feel immensely satisfied that we can be of some help to the COVID warriors and hope thousands more undertake the course," Arunesh Singh, CEO, Generation India, said in a statement here.
With the help of prominent partnerships, this free online course has been disseminated across 18 states and over one lakh nurses have already registered for this course, it added.
The coalition included like-minded partners like Columbia Asia Hospital, who offered the medical content; ABP News as the media partner; Learnet Skills Ltd and UNESCO, who supported the launch and rolled out the course.
Hosmac India Pvt Ltd is the industry partner, while the Trained Nurses Association of India (TNAI) is the certification partner for the same, and IKEA Foundation and MetLife Foundation are the Funding Partners.
Healthcare bodies - the National Health Authority (NHA) and the Consortium of Accredited Healthcare Organisations (CAHO) have also partnered with Generation India, for this course as Strategic Partner (Public Health).
Other organisations such as Andhra Pradesh State Skill Development Corporation (APSSDC), National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), Orion Edutech, Delhi Nursing Council (DNC), Indian Professional Nurses Association (IPNA) have also significantly contributed towards the dissemination of this course, it added.
'To make the programme available to as many nurses as possible, we worked with the trained Nurses' Association of India to get it accredited and publish the programme on their website. It is offered at no charge, and grants continuing education credits to qualified participants,' said the statement.
Several participants remarked on how helpful it is to have demonstration videos, which are not usually a component of nurses' training. In particular, the content on roles and responsibility of a nurse in handling COVID-19 and stress management has been especially well-received, it said.
One of the nurses who attended the training, said 'I am very happy to take this course and will recommend others to do the same.'
'The course really helped us understand and fight against COVID-19,' said another nurse.
UNI GK RJ 1810