Posted on: Wed 03-07-2019

Development, innovation, advanced practice and leadership in nursing were at the heart of the work on the third day of the Congress of the International Council of Nurses in Singapore, which attracted more than five thousand nurses.

An animated panel discussion at the ICN Congress in Singapore looked at human resources for health and the African experience. The panel, comprised Dr Judith Shamian, former ICN President, Professor Yoswa Dambisya, Director General of the ECSA College of Health Sciences, Dr Thembeka Gwagwa, ICN 2nd Vice President, Dr Leslie Mancuso, President and CEO of Jhpiego and Dr Khama Rogo, head of the World Bank Group's Health in Africa Initiative, presented innovative strategies that are engaging nursing to shape and influence global, regional and national agendas and policies.

The panel presented the collaborative efforts of ICN, The World Bank, Jhpiego, and the Eastern, Central and Southern African region to advance human resources for health and education through harnessing the power of global partnerships.

“The nursing community is a strong partner in bringing solutions and new ways of working to both new and existing global challenges, said Dr Shamian. “Working globally, regionally and locally within and outside of nursing is the only way we will health and nursing.”

Dr Rogo said, “We are coming from a region where out of the 14-16 countries, nearly three-quarters of them have nurses that are unemployed at the moment and there is nothing on the horizon which says they will get jobs. When we talk about health being an investment and not a cost then we have to ask are we getting more nurses into work rather than just producing more”.

Advanced practice - a theme which is highlighted throughout the Congress - was presented in a main session by Consuelo Cerón, Dean of the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery at the Universidad de los Andes, Chile, and Dr Melanie Rogers, Chair of the ICN Nurse Practitioner/ Advanced Practice Nursing Network. Giving an overview of advanced practice nursing including the barriers and challenges to developing these roles, the expert speakers presented ICN’s work in this area and illustrated the success of developing advanced practice nurse roles in Chile through collaborative working.

The final main session of the day brought back the important topic of leadership, presenting ICN’s two flagship leadership programmes, The Global Nursing Leadership Institute™ and Leadership for Change™. Led by the Directors of these programmes, and including alumni from both programmes, the session discussed ways to develop effective nursing leaders in countries and globally.

Dr Jane Salvage, GNLI Director, said, “We all know nursing needs to be at the top table in every health related organization – the table where the big decisions are made…The GNLI prepares top nurses from around the world to drive policy that improves the health of people, improves health care and advances the nursing profession.”

Throughout the day delegates were also able to take part in a large scientific programme of concurrent sessions, where evidence-based nursing research was presented and shared. In addition, a special fundraising session was held to raise funds for the Girl Child Education Fund.

The ICN Congress continues till Monday, 1 July. For details of the Congress programme go to:

Download the Congress app free of charge from the App Store for iPhones and from the Play Store for Android phones. After opening one of these stores, type “K.I.T. Group” in the search toolbar.

---

---