The yearly ‘thank you’ to nurses is not enough

Nursing Beyond Tradition

• Nurses and midwives make up nearly 47% of India’s health workforce, yet they are underrepresented in leadership, policymaking, and autonomous clinical roles.

• Nurse Practitioners (NPs) are advanced practice registered nurses with specialized training, certified to diagnose, treat, and prescribe independently.

• India has recognized the need for NPs, particularly to expand health-care access in underserved areas.

• Despite the Indian Nursing Council initiating structured NP programmes, integration remains slow.

Challenges and Lessons from Australia

• The NP movement in Australia was instructive, focusing on advanced clinical skills, diagnosis, treatment, limited prescribing authority, and community engagement.

• Resistance to nurse autonomy in India stems from policy gaps, cultural, gender, and hierarchical biases, and a crisis in the nursing education sector due to lax regulation and corruption.

Let Nurses Lead

• NPs are formally recognized in many high-income, low- and middle-income countries, but their potential remains untapped at home.

• Realising NP roles in India demands reforms in nursing education, regulation, and leadership.

• Urgent reforms include closing substandard colleges, enhancing faculty competency, bridging the theory-practice gap, and integrating ethics and leadership into nursing curricula.

• Addressing the gender-based undervaluation of nursing is essential.

• Nurses must lead nursing reforms through sustained policy engagement.

• Honouring nurses requires confronting hard truths about power and privilege.