A team of renal nurses flew more than 3,450 miles to become the first graduates of a course revolutionising the treatment of kidney disease in the UAE.
The nurses collected their MSc in Renal Nursing to cheers and applause on the first day of De Montfort University Leicester (DMU)’s summer graduations.
Mohammad Alghraiybah, Eva Calimlim, Manal Hamoudeh, Jent Lee, Dexie Josefa Mariano, Allam Rezqallah and Faduma Sharif said they were thrilled to collect their degrees.
“It has been hard work but collecting our degree is a very special day for us,” said Faduma.
Eva said: “People have been so friendly, everyone is smiling and wishing us well.
“The ceremony was really nice, we really liked it. The Vice-Chancellor having close contact with the graduates was much appreciated.”
There is a huge need for quality renal nursing in Abu Dhabi, with more than 1,000 people per million of the population requiring dialysis, one of the highest rates in the world.
The Renal Nursing programme is helping fill this gap by ensuring patients receive the highest possible standards of care, while also helping to raise the profile of this type of nursing in the region.
The nurses are already implementing findings from their studies and making a difference to the kidney service – a vital part in the treatment of this incurable disease.
Jent Lee, who also graduated on Saturday, said: “A master’s in Renal Nursing is one of the rare, if not the best, opportunities a practicing kidney nurse could be offered to take.
“With the latest trend in nursing practice, evidenced based nursing taking its lead, it is a privilege to study a course offered in learning and developing such skills.”
The programme is a partnership between DMU’s School of Nursing and Midwifery, Abu Dhabi’s local provider of kidney services, the SEHA Dialysis Services (a partnership between SEHA and Fresenius Medical Care) and Fatima College of Health Sciences providing a direct approach to improving management of kidney disease.
Recommendations made by the nurses in their final projects, as part of the programme are already being used by the dialysis service to improve outcomes for patients.
The new MSc was accredited as ‘highly commended’ by the European Dialysis and Transplant Nurses Association (EDTNA), their highest category of award.
EDTNA is a multidisciplinary international renal association representing more than 74 countries.
Students work full-time in a range of clinical settings, including dialysis, transplantation and intensive care, while completing the MSc in only 18 months.
Dexie said: “The programme challenged us as senior nurses. We got to work in different areas of renal nursing to develop our skills and see the different options available to patients.”
Many of the new graduates are already set to have papers included in specialist journals. They will all present their work at the international EDTNA conference in Spain in September.
Posted on Tuesday 19 July 2016