Authors

  1. Juarez, Maureen J.
  2. Friesen, Pamela K.
  3. Missal, Bernita E.
  4. Muwema, Mercy RN

Article Content

From Uganda: Endure Hard Times-Don't Quit

"I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us," - - Romans 8:18, NIV

  
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Sufferings are costly to both physical and spiritual life. In suffering, you may become wasted and weak in body. It may interfere with prayer, Bible study, worship, and praise. But allow yourself to suffer for a little while. This suffering will not be too long; your glory and God's will be revealed and manifested.

 

You may suffer as you return to school with no available money for fees and "pocket spending." But the time you spend earning the nursing degree is short in comparison to the good job that awaits you. You may suffer loss of social opportunity as you struggle with studies and feel unable to take time searching for a godly life mate or other things. But don't hurry that search. God has a divine plan for your life.

 

The joy, happiness, and glory that are received after suffering the hard times of nursing school can't be compared with the hard times while in school. In school, you suffer while studying to acquire the degree. Yet, when the degree is earned, it will be the passport to open new doors. God can use your degree for placing you in a good job, enabling you to cross nations, or upgrading your preparation to another level.

 

The Bible says, "Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything," (2 Corinthians 6:10, NIV). Let not your sorrow or hard times deny you of God's promises and the potential he has given you. Suffering may be your experience now; ahead is the glory that will be revealed.

 

Though sorrowful outside, let your heart rejoice. Though poor, help the poor ones become rich. Though owning nothing, seek God for the most precious things.

 

Student years contain many aspects of suffering. But my brother or sister, you are not alone. Your Heavenly Father has promised not to leave you comfortless; he will come to you (John 14:18). Endure the hard, even harsh, times of nursing school. Don't quit. Ahead, you will experience the glory.

 

Communication in Uganda

Dear c'gues in d profn, God's gd all d time & all d time, God's gd. (Dear colleagues in the profession of nursing, God is good all the time and all the time, God is good.) This phrase is a common greeting in Uganda!!

 

Since 2000, Ugandans have increasingly used texting as an effective, economically feasible communication tool. As graduate nursing students, we routinely use texting for several professional and personal purposes. Texting provides us a more stable communication platform than e-mails.

 

Ugandan Perspectives on Nursing Theory

Until recently, nursing in Uganda has been viewed as an occupation, an extension of services being offered by wives and mothers. In East Africa there is no well-published nursing research. Phenomena of interest to nursing are identified through case studies, cultural practices, and stories told by elders and ancestors.

 

As graduate nursing students, we teach students at Uganda Christian University, and have covered topics on grand nursing theories and middle range theories. Theory is used to influence the nurse's perspective of what to look for, what is perceived as a problem, what outcomes one hopes to achieve, and what interventions to choose. The middle range theories are most useful in Uganda to fulfill emerging leadership nursing roles of research, management, and practice.

 

Nursing education and practice in Uganda are adopting the use of the nursing process. Middle range theories can help the nurses to connect the nursing diagnosis and outcome, and understand the connection between interventions and outcomes. The Christian worldview embraces holism, viewing a person as body, mind, and soul-and gearing activities to meet needs of the whole person. The underlying worldview of a nursing theory shapes the way in which a Christian nurse leader uses the theory.