Home  Global Nursing Workforce Project Project Communiqué No. 1- May/June 2004

 

Project Communiqué No. 1         May/June 2004

 

 

 

Global Nursing Review Initiative:  Policy Options and Solutions
Supported by the Burdett Trust for Nursing

 

Introduction

Project News

Contact

Project Communiqué N° 1 - May/June 2004

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Introduction

In March 2004, the International Council of Nurses (ICN), supported by the Burdett Trust for Nursing, formally launched the Global Nursing Review Initiative:  Policy Options and Solutions.  The project aims to highlight key policy and practice issues, innovations and solutions necessary to address the supply and utilisation of the nursing workforce globally.

The key goals of the initiative are fourfold:

1. To provide a global overview of the supply and demand and key nursing workforce trends and issues;
2. To identify and describe key issues and best practices related to workforce policy and planning, and nursing shortages;
3. To review and highlight interventions addressing recruitment and retention difficulties; and,
4. Through a global summit, agree on key worldwide and regional priorities in addressing nursing workforce shortage issues.

The present communiqué represents the first in a series of project publications, and provides an update on progress to date.

 

Project News

The Reference Group
The first “virtual” meeting of the Reference Group was held in March 2004 to discuss the plans needed to successfully deliver this initiative.  The Reference Group is a key component of the project and its members play an important advisory and consultative role.  ICN is pleased to announce the members of the Reference Group as follows:

Jonathan Asbridge, President
Nursing and Midwifery Council
London, United Kingdom

Gilles Dussault, Senior Health Specialist (Policy)
World Bank Institute
Washington, D.C., U.S.A.

Marilyn Elegado-Lorenzo, Director,
Institute of Health Policy and Development Studies
National Institute of Health
University of the Philippines
Manila, Philippines

Thembeka Gwagwa, General Secretary,
The Democratic Nursing Organisation of
South Africa
Pretoria, South Africa

Silvina Malvárez, Regional Advisor on Nursing and Allied Health Personnel
Pan American Health Organisation
Washington, D.C., U.S.A

Ken Sagoe, Director,
Human Resources Development Division
Ghana Health Service
Accra, Ghana

Judith Shamian, President and CEO
Victorian Order of Nurses
Ottawa, Canada

Sissel Hodne Steen, Assistant Director, and
Ragnhild Seip, Health Advisor
Department of Human Development and Service Delivery
Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation
Oslo, Norway

Duangvadee Sungkhobol, Regional Advisor for Nursing and Midwifery
World Health Organisation, Regional Office for South-East Asia
New Delhi, India

Piyasiri Wickramasekara, Senior Migration Specialist,
International Migration Branch
International Labour Office
Geneva, Switzerland

The Global Overview
Since February 2004, Dr James Buchan of Queen Margaret University College in the United Kingdom, with the support of the Reference Group and other key informants, has been identifying data sources and key literature for the Global Overview.  The project team is currently in the process of identifying additional key informants to provide regional and country specific information.  A draft of the Overview is planned for completion in the summer of 2004.

Issues Papers Series
In addition to the Global Overview, a series of issue papers are being commissioned to examine four main aspects of nursing workforce policy.  The four main themes are as follows

1. Regulation, competency development and role definition.
2. Policy and planning initiatives: a) nationally, to address geographic and sectoral maldistribution and b) locally, to assess workload and improve utilisation, and deployment.
3. What makes a “good” employer: the links between effective human resource practice, staffing levels, staff involvement and care outcomes.
4. Recruitment, retention, motivation and performance: interventions and incentives to promote job satisfaction.

In addition to the four themed papers, additional country/region papers will be commissioned.  These papers will examine country/regional type feedback while making best use of meetings with key informants.

The Summit
The outcomes from the Global Overview and Issues Papers Series will be used as a backdrop to a high-level Summit scheduled to take place in 2005.  The Summit will bring together decision makers and provide them with the evidence base to make sound decisions related to nursing human resources.

 

We invite you to continue to follow our activities in the next Project Communiqué due for release in the Fall 2004.

 

To obtain further information on the Global Nursing Review Initiative:
Policy Options and Solutions, please contact Patricia Caldwell at caldwell@icn.ch

International Council of Nurses
3, place Jean-Marteau
1201 Geneva, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 908 0100
Fax: +41 22 908 0101