STUDENT. For the first time, a student at the University of Gothenburg has been awarded the Queen Silvia Nursing Award. Pernilla Rönntoft, who is in the postgraduate program in specialist nursing for elderly care, will receive the award for an idea on how, by simple means, to raise the competence of personnel within elderly care.
I notice that working with the elderly makes me feel good. As a nurse, I can make a huge difference to them
The educational level of persons working within elderly care varies, and those that have been working for a long time may need to acquire new knowledge. In several other care areas, a so-called competency license is issued as a simple way of broadening and ensuring staff’s knowledge. Pernilla, herself, has bumped into such a competency license when she worked as a nurse in a hospital surgery unit. She explains that a similar competency license should also be used in elderly care in order to improve knowledge on, for example, how to take blood pressure, what is required in regard to care hygiene and how to act if a patient become acutely ill.
“Then the staff would increase their knowledge by watching films, studying pictures and reading texts, after which they would be able to test their skills with a multiple choice test. Taking the test several times is also a way to learn,” says Pernilla Rönntoft and explains that the competency license could be a good addition to the formal education that exists in all of the professional categories that work in elderly care.
In a competition with other nursing students, Pernilla’s idea has now been designated as the best, and she has been awarded this year’s Queen Silvia Nursing Award. It is an annually awarded scholarship given to a nursing student with the objective of creating conditions for a lasting positive change in health and social care with a focus on the elderly. She will receive the award from Her Royal Highness Queen Silvia in a ceremony on May 17, in Stockholm, where a representative of the University of Gothenburg will also be present. The scholarship will provide Pernilla with the sum of SEK 50,000 and an individually adapted six-month internship with important and innovative organizations that are active within different aspects of care.
She has already presented her idea to a gathering of European representatives for the Swedish Order of St. John. The Swedish Order of St. John is an organization that works to develop humanitarian activities in the spirit of Christianity and is part of a comprehensive international network of volunteer organizations.
“It was nice. They listened and were interested, and had a positive attitude toward the idea,” explains Pernilla.
Parallel with her studies in the specialist nursing program in Gothenburg, Pernilla works as head nurse on a dementia ward at Attendo Nissastrand in Halmstad, where her boss has encouraged her and her ideas for improving nursing care.
“The elderly have incredible amounts of knowledge that is not being utilized. I think it is inspiring to hear them talk, and I notice that working with the elderly makes me feel good. As a nurse, I can make a huge difference to them,” says Pernilla.
