National Referral Hospital (NRH) is strengthening its life-saving cardiac nursing capabilities, through hands-on on-site mentoring provided by the Chinese medical team.
Guofeng Xie, known locally among hospital staff as Terry, has led clinical training during more than 30-plus heart operations during the team’s current mission. The cases include three high-risk emergency cardiac surgeries.
Enhanced nursing skills are critical both during surgery and for patients’ post‑surgical recovery. At the hospital, patients may experience post‑operative complications including puncture‑site haematomas and skin blisters, which can impede recovery. Such clinical scenarios highlight the need for evidence‑based nursing practices to optimise local patient outcomes.
Local medical staff are highly motivated to elevate care quality. Even so, formal standard peri‑operative care workflows for coronary artery disease are not yet fully in place, and clinical teams require further training for cardiac‑related medical emergencies.
Nurse Xie delivered targeted perioperative nursing support, with training covering the full patient-care cycle: pre-operative, intra-operative and post-operative phases.
For pre-operative management, Nurse Xie trained local staff on complete clinical protocols including patient assessment, emotional support for anxious patients and pre-surgical checklists. Comprehensive pre-operative preparation lowered surgical risks and helped patients achieve optimal physical and mental status ahead of procedures.
Live hands-on coaching was delivered inside the cardiac catheter lab during actual procedures. Xie guided local teams through core clinical duties, with extra emphasis on rapid response, seamless teamwork and resuscitation for time-sensitive emergency heart-attack cases. This practical work helped address critical gaps in local emergency cardiac nursing.
To complete the full training loop, the team introduced a dedicated post-operative handover teaching system. At daily ward hand-over sessions, Chinese and local clinicians jointly reviewed patient history, surgical findings, observation priorities, nursing precautions, recovery goals and complication warning signs.
Over the course of training, local nurses built practical skills and greater confidence. “Let me try. I think I can manage it now,” some nurses said as they began carrying out key nursing tasks independently under supervision.
Dr. Liangzhao Chu, leader of the 5th China Medical Team, outlined the team’s long-term goal. “Building on progress delivered by previous teams, we will continue to systematically strengthen nursing capabilities at NRH. Our goal is to cooperate with local staff to enhance patient safety in heart-care services and build a sustainable, skilled cardiac-care workforce for Solomon Islands.”
