Ziphilly Chiumis Sichingaworks

The NHS Glasgow and Clyde Health Board partnership- Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) Partnership

The project aims at reducing mortality and morbidity in burns and scald injuries in children. The partnership has trained over sixty-two nurses and clinical officers. Ziphilly was one of those to receive training in burns care and management skills

“Out of a passion for caring for the sick I developed an interest in pursuing a medical course, with a focus on nursing. After graduating from the University of Malawi, Kamuzu College of Nursing in 2015, I was assigned by the chief nursing officer to various departments, including the burns unit. Due to the nature of the roles at this unit, treating patients with burns on a daily basis, many nurses shun being deployed there. But in my case, I did not have that problem, my family have had awful experiences with burns, with one of my nephews dying due to them and another one surviving despite being burnt severely.

Through the partnership, I have had many opportunities to learn more about burns management. Thanks to the training, we have tremendously improved the care of patients with a reduction of mortality rates of burns patients from 24% before the training, to 12% after the training.

Following my training Malawi, I was asked to help with the practical sessions of the Accra Burns Project in Ghana, as part of another partnership between the Great Glasgow and Clyde NHS Trust. My stay in Ghana was great! I want to be a role-model to fellow nurses so that they can start to view burns as an equally important field of medical practice.

I now envision doing a Master’s degree in line with burns management as a springboard for a PhD. “