The Global Nursing Review Initiative:
Policy Options and Solutions
Project Description
Press Releases
Publications
Related ICN Position Statements
Related ICN Fact Sheets
Links
Contact
__________________________________
Project Description
The Global Nursing Review Initiative: Policy
Options and Solutions was launched in March 2004 in response
to the global nursing crisis. Led by the International
Council of Nurses (ICN) and its sister organisation the Florence
Nightingale International Foundation, and supported by the Burdett
Trust for Nursing, the project aims to clarify the extent of
the global nursing shortage; provide an analysis of key nursing
workforce issues globally; identify priorities for policy intervention;
and develop recommendations to address issues.
Project Components
Reference Group
The reference group is a key component of the project
and its members play an important advisory and consultative role. The
group members are listed below:
Jonathan Asbridge
Nursing and Midwifery Council – United Kingdom
Gilles Dussault
World Bank Institute
Marilyn Elegado Lorenzo
National Institutes of Health –- Philippines
Thembeka Gwagwa
The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa
Silvina Malvárez
Pan American Health Organization
Ken Sagoe
Ghana Health Service
Ragnhild Seip
Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation
Judith Shamian
Victorian Order of Nurses
(Formerly of Health Canada)
Sissel Hodne Steen
Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation
Duangvadee Sungkhobol
World Health Organization, Regional Office for South-East Asia
Piyasiri Wickramasekara
International Labour Office
Representatives of the World Health Organization,
Geneva, Switzerland
The Global Shortage of Registered Nurses: An Overview
of Issues and Actions
The overview represents the first output from ICN's
programme of work on the global nursing workforce. The report highlights
key trends, main challenges and provides a framework for policy interventions
to address workforce challenges. The full report can be accessed here [
419
KB] .
Executive
Summary (
, 164
KB )
[French and Spanish translations
of the report available ]
Issue-based Papers
The Global Shortage of Registered Nurses: An
Overview of Issues and Actions is complemented by a series
of issue-based papers examining specific global and regional aspects
of the nursing workforce in more detail. The papers are available
in the Publication section of this page.
High-Level Consultation on the Global Nursing Workforce
Some fifty representatives of governments, employers, donors, trade
unions, policy analysts, planners, researchers and professional nursing
organisations, from all regions of the world met in Geneva, Switzerland
14-16 March 2005 at the invitation of the International Council of
Nurses to identify priorities and actions to deal with the critical
imbalance and shortage in the nursing workforce worldwide.
Participants called on global and national partners to take immediate
action along the following lines:
Action at the global level
- Increase resources to support the development of comprehensive
human resource strategies;
- Explore using global health funds to strengthen human resource
delivery infrastructures, including education;
- Form strategic alliances between governments, donors, agencies,
educators, regulators, unions and associations;
- Build capacity in the area of human resource planning and management;
- Build national self-sufficiency to manage domestic issues of
supply and demand;
- Support international code for ethical recruitment; effective
monitoring of international flows; regulation and independent monitoring
of international recruitment agencies; and respect for international
labour instruments; and
- Improve access to high-quality technical assistance.
Action at the country level
- Consider the range of nursing personnel required to meet national
health needs;
- Embrace new models of care, with an emphasis on primary care,
and new technologies;
- Address issues of skill mix and the delegation/devolution of
some tasks to other workers; and
- Improve workloads and working conditions.
International Summit on the Global Nursing Workforce
As follow-up to the March 2005 Consultation, ICN convened an International
Summit on the Global Nursing Workforce, which was held on 24 May 2005 during
ICN’s 23rd Quadrennial Congress in Taipei, Taiwan. Nurse leaders from
research, management, practice and education joined representatives from
health sector planning and human resources development to exchange ideas,
opinions and solutions on priority workforce issues.
The Summit and findings from an on-site survey validate the five
priority areas of intervention for ICN and nursing. The five areas
are:
- Macroeconomic and health sector funding policies;
- Workforce policy and planning, including regulation;
- Positive practice environments and organisational performance;
- Recruitment and retention; addressing in country maldistribution,
and out migration; and
- Nursing leadership.

__________________________________
Press Releases
Press
Release 29 March 2006 Priorities
to Address Global Nursing Shortages Announced
Press
Release 3 March 2005 ICN Releases
First Series of Issue Papers on the Global Shortage of Registered
Nurses
Press
Release 8 March 2004 First Comprehensive Picture of the Global
Nursing Workforce
Press
Release 8 November 2004 The inadequate supply of nurses is
having a negative affect on care outcomes globally

__________________________________
Publications
Project Publications
Project
Communiqué N°3-
July 2005 [PDF
file
,
180 KB]
Project Communiqué N°2 -
December 2004 [PDF
file
,
116 KB]
Project Communiqué N° 1 - May/June 2004 [PDF
file
, 74
KB ]
The Global Nursing Shortage: Priority Areas for Intervention 
(
, 243
KB )
The Global Shortage of Registered Nurses: An
Overview of Issues and Actions
Executive
Summary (
, 164
KB )
Full
Report (
,
419 KB )
Issue Paper 1
Regulation, roles and competency development (
,
246 KB)
Issue Paper 2
Nursing
Workforce Planning: Mapping the Policy Trail (
,
226 KB)
Issue Paper 3
What Makes
a Good Employer? (
,
444 KB)
Issue Paper 4
Nurse
Retention and Recruitment: Developing a Motivated Workforce (
,
233 KB)
Issue Paper 5
International
Migration of Nurses: Trends and Policy Implications (
,
232 KB)
Issue Paper 6
Overview
of the Nursing Workforce in Latin America (
,
946 KB)
Issue Paper 7
The Nursing Workforce in Sub-Saharan Africa (
,
320 KB)
Other ICN Publications
Workload
Measurement in Determining Staffing Levels
Understanding
Mutual Recognition

__________________________________
Related ICN Position Statements
Socio Economic Welfare of Nurses
Abuse
or violence against nursing personnel (2000)
Career
development in nursing (2001)
Ethical
Nurse Recruitment (2001)
Impact
of HIV/AIDS on nursing/midwifery personnel (2000)
International
Trade Agreements (1999)
Nurse
retention, transfer and migration (1999)
Nurses
and Shift Work (2000)
Occupational
health and safety for nurses (2000)
Part-time
employment (2000)
Socio-economic
welfare of nurses (1999)
Strike
Policy (1999)
Health Care Systems
Health
Human Resources Development (HHRD)(1999)
Participation
of Nurses in Health Services Decision Making and Policy Development
(2000)
Promoting
the value and cost-effectiveness of nursing (2001)

__________________________________
Related
ICN Fact Sheets
Nurse:
Patient Ratios
Equal
Opportunity: Gender Issues
Nurses
and Overtime
ICN
on International Trade Agreements

__________________________________
Links
AcademyHealth
Commission on Graduates
of Foreign Nursing Schools
International
Centre on Nurse Migration
International
Council of Nurses (ICN)
Florence Nightingale
International Foundation
The
Burdett Trust for Nursing
Ghana
Health Service
Human
Resources for Health Online Journal
International
Labour Office
National
Institutes of Health – Philippines
Norwegian
Agency for Development Cooperation
Nursing
and Midwifery Council UK
Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development
Pan
American Health Organization
The
Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa
The
Joint Learning Initiative
The
World Bank Institute
Victorian
Order of Nurses
WHO
Department of Health Service Provision (OSD)
World
Health Organization, Regional Office for South-East Asia

__________________________________
Contact
For more information contact:
Patricia Caldwell
Project Coordinator
International Council of Nurses
3 Place Jean Marteau
1201 Geneva, Switzerland
Tel: (+41 22) 908 0100
Fax: (+41 22) 908 0101
Email:

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