In a far reaching Global Health talk with Michael Lesner, International Council of Nurses CEO Howard Catton, speaks about the changing image of nurses over recent years. He joined as CEO to debunk the myths.
The International Council of Nurses represents the 27 millions nurses across 130 national nursing associations right around the world.
Coming into the Year of the Nurse 2020, nursing was already facing a global 6 million shortage of nurses. COVID-19 highlighted the gaps in healthcare and created an increasing demand for bedside nurses. The pandemic broadcast the images from front line settings where nurses do their job, night after night to sway opinion on the role they play. However the moral and ethical decisions nurses continue to make to determine who gets a bed weigh on the heads of nurses during these difficult times.
As Howard states, ordinary nurses have been doing extraordinary things in the most challenging of circumstances. Nurse mental health and psychological welfare is of concern across 90% of ICN’s national nursing association members. It has been labelled as the “mass traumatisation of the nursing workforce”. There have been cases of nurse suicide, as well as abuse across multiple countries.
When discussing advanced practice nursing, in many care the funding models of care are insufficient to support nurse led practice, in a variety of setting. Fundamentally, funding is lacking in nursing education, nursing leadership and nursing jobs.
In early November the ICN Congress will be discussing the learning from COVID pandemic, especially vaccine inequality where 80% of vaccines have gone to the wealthiest countries, and just 2% in places such as the African continent. The conversations will include having nurses advice in the top level of political and policy decision making.
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Global effort to reduce postoperative infection risk
Infection rates following surgical procedure vary across countries, however the causes and the ranges of variation are not well understood.
The causes of the infections are not as high as would be assumed on the surgical procedure, but co-morbidity and lifestyle choices including alcohol consumption may exacerbate risk. As Dr Edmiston states, there are a myriad of causes, and funding is limited in many countries. However there are some solutions, where goals, performance tracking against the goals and better communication is needed.
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Clinical research and trials in Australia and New Zealand
Clinical research and trials in the Australia and New Zealand region offer foreign companies an opportunity to collaborate with local institutions, tap into diverse patient populations, access high-quality healthcare infrastructure, and gain regulatory approvals, enabling them to expand their market reach and accelerate the development of innovative medical interventions.
Clinical trials continued in Australia and New Zealand during lockdown, thanks to collaboration between industry and government, allowing the region to attract trials from other countries.
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Closing gaps in emergency surgical care
Dr Lynette Scherer In conversation with Mike Lesner talks about trauma being the leading cause of death for under 40 year olds in the US, giving rise to the need to deliver trauma care earlier and more efficiently.
As a trauma surgeon and CEO of Surgical Affiliates Management Group, Inc (or known as SAMGI), Dr Scherer’s organisation addresses variations and gaps in emergency surgical care. The work has led to improvements in care, financial performance of hospitals and clinician satisfaction levels.
