Staff Profiles: Najwa Shoujaa'

Najwa Shoujaa'

Najwa Shoujaa', the nurse manager in the medical, surgical, and infectious unit at AUH, exudes a sense of total belonging to the hospital, renewed on a daily basis by her constant involvement with the patients, staff, doctors, and the administrative work at the unit.

Shoujaa' has spent 38 years of her life at AUB, starting in 1970, when she first joined as a nursing student to get her diploma in 1973. Continuing with her employment that same year in the medical unit, she nursed countless patients, especially during the turbulent times of the Lebanese civil war. "We were desperately understaffed most of the time. I remember doing 16-hour shifts almost every day for two years during the war," said Shoujaa', who certainly lives up to her family name of "courage" in Arabic when demonstrating that quality in her life.

In 1978, Shoujaa' moved to the surgical unit of war casualties, where her dedication and hard work continued to give hope and care to "all sorts of patients, including militia fighters,"until the medical surgical unit opened in 1982 and became her second home.

"We had the first AIDS case in this unit in 1984, so to be on the safe side, we put the patient in quarantine and later burned everything he touched or was used by him. Ensuring no spread of infection cost the hospital a fortune; even his visiting mother was not allowed to leave the patient's room, for fear of spreading the virus. We would bring everything to her," explained Shoujaa'.

Subsequently, Shoujaa' made it her business to educate herself and others about the best methods for infection control of the AIDS virus. She worked with the World Health Organization, attended many workshops in different countries, and became an expert on the subject.