The history of Care City & Carecode is not complete if I don’t talk about Adewumi Oluwatobi. He has been an amazing friend, partner & team member. Intelligent, adventurous & curious; what else were you expecting? Something less?
A mail connected us. During the early days of Care City (we are still in the early days), when I found my passion and was bending down to start building.
He sent me a mail, we got talking, and our passions seemed to melt into one perfect innovative lump. We shared the same dream for the nursing profession in Nigeria, Africa & the world. We worked together in creating programs our own way and putting the structure together with the little resources that we could find around us.
I am the writer & editor, he is the one who does more of implementing the ideas. I have learned & I am still learning a lot from him, and now, I want you to learn from him [his story, his motivation & what keeps him going.]
His advice & wisdom & support have helped me a lot when it comes to building what we are pursuing today. And this edition of inspire is dedicated to him, the Chief Operations Officer of Carecode, and now officially one of the Co-founders of Carecode Digital Health Hub.
I want his story to INSPIRE many out there to do more. To make them know that there is so much that they can do, and should be doing. To make them understand the power in teamwork, collaboration & friendship.
Come, let’s meet this spectacular Digital Nurse…
ABOUT OLUWATOBI
Oluwatobi is an award-winning Christian Nurse, Data scientist, and Digital Health Advocate with diverse skills and abilities. An intuitive and highly motivated individual with an established sense of leadership, planning, and excellent communication skill, versatile and passionate about improving Lives with reference to healthcare and Technology.
“One of my aim is to contribute my quota in driving Nursing to the peak of it’s potentials by equipping Nurses or making available platforms that will equip nurses with the knowledge and skills required to reach this peak which in turn brings about an improved living for the entire Globe”. He says…
Coupled with his adventure in the healthcare industry, he is passionate about impacting Knowledge and cultivating excellence in whatever platform he finds himself on.
He currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer of CareCode Digital Health Hub, a startup with the vision of Developing tailormade digital Health solutions and as well equipping 21st-century healthcare professionals with digital skills required to survive this “Tech Era”.
He has also been privileged to speak in webinars and virtual conferences on Digital Health and healthcare innovation. He has written a few articles which are accessible online on digital health-related topics.
He is a recipient of several awards both nationally and locally, one of which is the National Florence Nightingale Trophy Speech Contest; 2019 Award. He is also a part of professional organizations both nationally and internationally like the International Society for Telemedicine and ehealth amidst others.
All Work without play makes Oluwatobi a 😆 boy… asides from his professional and career endeavors, Oluwatobi likes to play the piano in his leisure time and maybe some soccer games once in a while.
Tell us something unique about Tobi?
Hmm…Tobi has got many unique traits, but some I’ll like to say here are his ability to connect and relate with people at different levels, and He’s a liberal person with an openness to learning, growth, and self-development.
Why did you choose the nursing profession? You should have done something else, maybe Engineering or Computer Science or something…
The nursing profession found me first 😂, but now I’ve found her back. I did because I realized the wealth of potentials embedded in the profession and saw it as a very suitable platform to achieve my vision.
How did you discover Care City & Carecode?
I was on one of my social media networks that night when I saw a post on the need for volunteers for a particular outreach program that was to hold that month. I showed interest to volunteer then I got a very long email stating the modalities of the outreach, the vision of the team (Care City), and other things📨. After reading through I accepted the offer to volunteer and somehow, connected with the founder [Ayinla Daniel] on Whatsapp…
How did you find your passion in Digital Health & Healthcare Technologies & what inspires your passion for tech?
Finding my passion in digital Health is not far-fetched from the fact that I grew up in a tech-oriented environment and with tech-oriented individuals, one of whom is my cousin who taught me Website Design.
Tech has been what I was doing before Nursing decided to choose me 😂… So on getting to nursing, I had to find a way to synchronize what I loved doing (tech) with the new field (nursing).
I started searching online to see how the two match, fortunately for me, I came across terms like Digital health, health informatics, nursing informatics, etc… I began to study more on those terms and I realized that this is what I want to do, synchronize technology and healthcare to improve lives.
What motivates you as an innovator & leader?
As an innovator, seeing problems stay unsolved drives me to channel all my resources (human & non-human resources) to proffering solutions to the problems within my current capacity.
Do you have any mentors, those who you look to for motivation & inspiration?
Yes, I do, here are a few of them: Nurse Dr. Buloala Lily West (FWCN), (Founder, Nurses Innovator); Aliya A. Aaron (Founder/CEO, Nursing Innovation Hub); Nurse Ayinla Daniel (Founder/CEO, CareCode Digital Health hub); Nurse Olayinka Aremu (Founder, Nurse Mentorship Academy.)
What do you think about the Digital Health Industry in Africa?
The Digital Health industry in Africa still seems to be in its primitive age, though the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly accelerated its growth in the past 2 years.
As promising as the future of digital Health seems it will take people who are opened to change leaving aside sociocultural sentiments, a well-equipped and adequately trained health care workforce, and supportive government and policies to get to maximize the full potentials of digital health in Africa.
On leadership, tell us what you are learning as a leader in the world of Nursing.
I am learning emotional intelligence because this has been identified to be pivotal to the success of any leader and Most importantly, this skill is needed in Nursing practice, not only to lead but to deliver appropriate care to the client/patient.
Challenges; so far, have you experienced any? And if you have, how have you surmounted them?
The little years I’ve spent in the profession have been with certain challenges. I may not be able to highlight them here but through the help of God, I’ve been able to sail through some of the challenges.
Where did your love for Graphic Designing come from?
From my primary school days o! I loved to do crayon painting, and pen drawing where I’ll combine at least 3 different colored pens to create an image. I transferred this interest into the computer when I had my first ICT training in 2010, while other colleagues were learning Ms. Word, Excel, and were playing games, I was learning Corel draw😂. That was how it started…
Are you also planning on leaving the country someday?
Planning on leaving? Maybe 😊… Yes.😂
What are your thoughts on the covid-19 vaccine? Do you think people should take them? And have you taken your own shots?
Well, I think due to the sociocultural sentiments and some proposed conspiracy theories about COVID-19, the arguments surrounding the vaccine are quite much but personally, based on the pharmacologic facts about the vaccine, I think it’s safe to take.
Yes, I have taken the prescribed two doses of the vaccine.
What do you have to say about Nursing Innovation & Leadership in Nigeria & Africa?
It’s quite interesting to know that innovation in Nursing practice is becoming a fast-growing concept in Africa. 21st-century nurses must key into these as it promises to scale up the productivity of the profession, better patient outcomes, improve the image of the profession, and a lot more.
On solving problems; what approach do you employ in solving very difficult problems as an innovator?
There are actually several problem-solving models I employ in tackling difficult problems. One which is quite common is the 4-stage model which includes:
- Defining the problem
- Generating alternatives
- Evaluating and selecting alternatives
- Implementing solution
This model has always worked and is sometimes combined with other problem-solving models.
“One of my aim is to contribute my quota in driving Nursing to the peak of it’s potentials by equipping Nurses or making available platforms that will equip nurses with the knowledge and skills required to reach this peak which in turn brings about an improved living for the entire Globe”.
Adewumi Oluwatobi
Have you ever had any ugly experiences as a clinical nurse?
Yes 🤣.I remembered a very funny one. We had an RTA patient, the medical officer on call attempted to take a blood sample from the patient but just a few drops of blood dropped into the sample bottle which wasn’t enough to run the laboratory investigation.
The Doctor said he’ll come back to take the sample so I picked the few drops of blood and discarded it not knowing that a relative who is a legal practitioner was somewhere watching.
The following day, the same Doctor came back to take another sample, but the lawyer-relative insisted that we provide the few drops that were taken yesterday. My God! I’ve discarded it na😂… Long story short, she started issuing a threat of Lawsuit, my MD already begging but she insisted o, I and other nurses including the Doctor on duty had to locate the large bin where the hospital waste was trashed, brought out those stinking waste, and started opening them one after the other to search for the discarded sample….face mask couldn’t stop the odor oozing out of that bin….😂
What do you think the leadership in Nigeria can do to help improve the nursing profession & the healthcare sector at large?
The leadership in Nigeria has to first come to the awareness of the pivotal roles of nurses in the healthcare industry. This can then be followed by implementing policies that will better foster nursing practice.
They should also provide more and well-equipped training facilities to accommodate more nurses to meet up with the standard Nurse-Patient ratio. Pieces of equipment and resources must also be made available to nurses and the healthcare industry at large to facilitate their operation.
What genre of books do you enjoy?
My genre of books include;
- Sci-Fi books
- Biographies and autobiographies
- Self Help books
- Historical and literary fiction books
- Spiritual books
When you are not doing nursing stuff or tech things, what do you do during leisure?
I love to play the piano, and sometimes I prefer to just have some random chit-chat with my loved ones.
Tell us something to inspire us. There are young nurses reading this interview, give them a word or two to inspire them.
To everyone reading this, Stay focused on your mission, remain steadfast in your pursuit of excellence, and always do the right thing.
If you’ve not found out what your own mission is, be committed to finding it because that is when your living begins to make sense.
Lastly and most importantly, KNOW GOD and MAKE HIM KNOWN. All those visions, missions, and aspirations should be to an end that God is Glorified in And through your life. If you’ve not been taking your life seriously with God, it’s not too late to start with him.
“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, but lose his soul?” -Mark 8:36”
“Think on those words!“
Thank you 😌😊
How was it? I bet you had a fill. You have seen for yourself how pleasant & passionate Tobi is. You can reach him via his social media channels: Linkedin; Facebook; Instagram; Twitter. You can also reach him through his mail here.
The next episode of INSPIRE will definitely bring you more inspiration [read older episodes here].
This is why we started INSPIRE; so that Nurses in Africa are fired up by the inspiring stories of Nurses who are actually doing something. We want to inspire you to do more. We want you to know that there is so much to do.
Pick up your ax and go grinding, come on!
Catch you soon…
Ayinla Daniel.
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