The 1st Interdisciplinary Clinical Simulation Symposium

Join us at the St. Kitts Marriot Resort on February 13 ~ 15, 2009, for the 1st Interdisciplinary Clinical Simulation Symposium!
Hosted by the University of Medicine & Health Sciences ~ St. Kitts and the International University of Nursing, this symposium will hold workshops designed for nurses, physicians and medical faculty.
Check out the ICSS website for further details and online registration.

The State of Health Professions in Canada

December 1, 2008

"In a series of five new reports released today, the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) provides the latest available and most comprehensive data in Canada about the supply, distribution, migration, education, demographic trends and work patterns for seven major health professions. The reports highlight changes in workforce trends over several years for physicians, registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and registered psychiatric nurses, as well as recent data for occupational therapists, physiotherapists and pharmacists."

Caribbean Stepping up Fight Against HIV/ AIDS

Dr. Goulda A. Downer, a Jamaican-born top official at Howard University's College of Medicine in Washington, DC, was recently awarded a US$400,000 Ford Foundation grant.
The purpose of the grant will be to engage Caribbean clinicians in capacity building preceptorships that will increase interdisciplinary communication and collaboration, enhance clinical skills and improve the quality of HIV care.
Preceptorships will be open to the following groups of practitioners: physicians, registered nurses, pharmacists, dentists, nutritionists/dieticians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants.
Jamaica Information Service, Washington DC, Dec 6/08

Reflections on Doctors: Nurses' Stories About Physicians & Surgeons

Edited by Terry Ratner, ISBN: 9781427798251, Kaplan Pub., Sept. 2008.
"Nurses share what it’s like to work with doctors—when it’s like a smooth-running machine, when communication breaks down, and how it directly affects the patient. Hear from people new to the field as well as those who have been in nursing for decades about power differences, gender dynamics, and the challenge of public perceptions.

Edited and introduced by a registered nurse, Reflections on Doctors is a resource for nurses and anyone who wants to better understand the healthcare professionals who care for them."
Read NYTimes review.

Pasqua Hospital nurses have a world of experience

Pamela Cowan, The Leader-Post, Regina Saskatchewan.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Staff working on a medical unit at the Pasqua Hospital have a world of experience. "Many homes ... One community" is the label for three maps posted in one of the units to mark her staff's international diversity.
"On the world map, coloured pins show her staff originates from Canada, Africa, Germany, El Salvador, the Caribbean, Eritrea, Brazil, the United States and Guyana. Closer to home, staff are recognized on a Saskatchewan map, while a third demonstrates locations in the Philippines where nurses practised before they came to Regina. Engel said the maps are reminders that staff come from many cultures and may have different beliefs and varying levels of experience and education....They also bring different perspectives in terms of practice. Our multicultural group has enriched all of us. One of the things that we've discovered as a team is that there's many ways to do things right."

Looking for nursing jobs in Canada?

Managing your stress : a guide for nurses

'Managing your stress' was published by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN),UK, 2005.
This booklet is designed to encourage nurses to look at their responses to stressful situations and events. There is advice on how to recognise stress and how to reduce and manage responses to stress more effectively. Advice is also given on how to manage occupational stress. Further reading, useful contacts and websites are also included.
Caption on figurine ~ "Too blessed to stress"
[courtesy of our very own Lona].

Hand Hygiene

"Did you know that four out of five germs that cause illness are spread by hands?
That's right. And that's why cleaning hands is one of the most important steps health care providers (& all of us) can take to prevent the spread of infection-causing germs. Numerous studies show that infections can be prevented in the hospital if health care providers use proper hand hygiene. Keeping your hands clean is an important way to avoid getting sick or spreading germs to patients, coworkers, etc." Click title for proper procedures as outlined by UMHS~Michigan.

Confronting Male Nurse Myths:

How to professionally handle the stereotypes.
BY KATHLEEN WARD

"You’re about to begin your first shift as an RN.Your gut tells you that the moment you walk through those doors in uniform, people will judge you. Why? Because you’re a man...Following are the unique situations male nurses face—and practical advice for handling the stereotypes."

Click on the link to read the full article from the RealityRN website.

Caribbean Health Conference focuses on Disease Prevention & Nursing Leadership

Antigua and Barbuda will play host to over 100 delegates, representing 17 Caribbean nations, for a major health conference on "Community-Based Prevention and Management of Cardiovascular and other Chronic Diseases among Caribbean Elderly – A focus on Nursing Leadership".

The conference will be held next week, October 13-15, 2008; and is in collaboration with Duke University School of Nursing, Office of Global and Community Health Initiatives, the Ministry of Health, the Pan American Health Organisation [PAHO] and the United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC].

Read more on Caribbean News Net ~ and in the Antigua Sun.

US Hospital Finder Website

"We have information on over 6000 hospitals. Find the nearest hospitals in your area by using the search box [full address, or city and state, or zip code]. We will find the hospitals and show them on a map. You can then click on a hospital to get its details (e.g. address, phone and services) and directions. You can also browse through our list of hospitals by our A-Z or State index."

"This is interesting not just for locating the hospitals, but for the statistics and information it also provides." Jordan Sandquist [IUON nursing student]

Thanks Jordan for your website recommendation!

Here are a few other key sites for information on/about hospitals:
~ 'Quality Check' from JCAHO.
~ the American Hospital Directory.
~ 'Hospital Compare' from US Health & Human Services Dept.
~ HealthGrades, a non-profit organization.

Nursing Trend Watch: Get Ready for Change

By Linda Beattie, contributor to NurseZone.com

"What does the future hold for nurses and the country’s health care system? It certainly won’t be “more of the same.” From high-tech advances to economic downturns, nurses will need to keep their eyes on a number of trends if they want to be ready for the changes ahead."
Click on the title to read the full article ~ but note one set of statistics for job seekers to keep in mind:

The projected growth rates for RN jobs in the largest areas of employment are:
Physician offices ~ 39 percent
Home health care services ~ 39 percent
Outpatient care centers ~ 34 percent
Employment services ~ 27 percent
General medical and surgical hospitals, public and private ~ 22 percent
Nursing care facilities ~ 20 percent

Caribbean Nursing Statistics

Table 1:
Number of Registered Nurses, Vacancies, and Vacancy Rates by Country.
Table 2:
Registered Nurses' Resignations with Declared Intentions to Migrate to the United Kingdom, the United States of America, or Canada, by Year and Country.
Table 3:
Health Workforce in the Caribbean Region per 10,000 Population.

Managed migration: the Caribbean approach to addressing nursing services capacity
Health Services Research, June, 2007, by Marla E. Salmon,
Jean Yan, Hermi Hewitt, Victoria Guisinger

Addressing Nurse-to-Nurse Bullying to Promote Nurse Retention

Rocker, C., (August 29, 2008) "Addressing Nurse-to-Nurse Bullying to Promote Nurse Retention" OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing; Vol 13 No. 3.

"Nurse-to-nurse bullying in the workforce is contributing to the current nursing shortage. The literature reveals both victims and witnesses of bullying suffer silently and are often confused as to what to do when presented with bullying behavior. This confusion frequently contributes to nurses leaving their chosen profession."

"Some Examples of Nurse-to-Nurse Bullying:
Interactions:
~ Withholding information.
~ Posting documentation errors on bulletin boards for all disciplines to view and others to critique.
~ Intimidating others by threats of disciplinary procedures.
~ Writing critical and abusive letters or notes to co-workers.
~ Verbalizing harsh innuendos and criticism.
~ Using hand gestures to ward off conversation.
~ Rolling eyes in disgust.
~ Having personal values and beliefs undermined.

Power Disparities:
~ Using shift/weekend charge positions to direct/control staff assignments/breaks.
~ Controlling co-workers’ behavior by reporting them to their supervisors for perceived lack of productivity and assistances.
~ Placing others under pressure to produce work and meet impossible deadlines.
~ Withholding knowledge of policies and procedures to get co-workers in trouble.

Actions:
~ Yelling at co-workers.
~ Demanding co-workers answer the telephone, NOW!
~ Refusing to mentor and guide new staff in their practice.
~ Refusing to help those who struggle with the unknown and uncertainty.
~ Refusing to help others in need of assistance.
~ Giving public reminders of incomplete/missed documentation or work."

Full article available at: www.nursingworld.org

RNCareers: Ontario's Premiere Career Site for Nurses

"To aid nurses in their search for career opportunities, the RNAO [Registered Nurses Association of Ontario] hosts the most extensive job search available for nurses in Ontario.
This career site offers a job and resume posting service that is beneficial to job seekers and nursing employers.
Nurses have the opportunity to search for jobs and their resumes to employers while remaining in control of their confidential information."

What Nurses Want

Recruitment Plans Focus On Working Conditions Over Financial Rewards
~ Washington Post ~ Sept 13, 2008
by V. Don Haynes

"As it turns out, many nurses want better working conditions more than they do extra money. Hospitals now are responding by introducing technology to dramatically reduce paperwork, offering more flexible hours, reducing caseloads, paying for advanced training and giving them more authority."
Click on title to read full article...

The Numbers Game

Nurses Respond to Questions about Salary
article reports on notable findings in nurse's earnings by region [US].

"Of the almost 75% who responded to the question on salary, the average salary was $62,618."

by Lorraine Steelfel on Nurse.com website, posted Sept 8, 2008.

News of our IUON Students in Colorado

Some encouraging words from our nursing student cohort now at University of Colorado - Pueblo!
"I just thought I would pass on that all is well with the Colorado group. We love it here in Pueblo. I want to pass on a thank you. Thank you for all that IUON gave us. We are excited and know that we are ready for the next step in our education. Thought we would send some pictures of what we are up to, hope you enjoy.
Thank you again, Melissa"

All the best to Danielle, Melissa, Elizabeth & Sheryl (& Candice)
from all of us back in St. Kitts!

Nursing Body Charts Future Course for Profession

“This issue [nursing shortage] has generated the necessity to convene significant forums to evaluate the health workforce issues worldwide with an overall aim of determining policies and strategies to deal with what is now believed to be a ‘crisis’ situation affecting the quality of health care delivery.”

Click on the title to access the artilce in the Antigua Sun.

Education More Important Than Immigration to Solve Nursing Shortage

"New research shows that a majority of US healthcare consumers would pay higher taxes to fund increased education facilities for American nurses.
Fully 96% of the US respondents to a recent morefocus group healthcare survey are concerned about the on-going effects of a nursing shortage. 84% believe that the Government should act now to increase nursing education access."
Click on title to read more about the survey at EduDecisions.com...

Funding Ideas to Further Your Nursing Career

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) has gathered an extensive list of alerts to grants, fellowships, scholarships, etc.; and to ongoing funding sources for nursing programs, students and research opportunities.
The student section of the site also has a Career Center, a page devoted to listing scholarships and financial aid resources, as well as other useful information and links. Some undergraduate nursing student scholarship and financial aid opportunities are also listed.

New Fact Sheet from ICHRN

The latest edition to the wealth of information on the website of the
International Centre for Human Resources in Nursing (ICHRN)
is a Fact Sheet entitled:
~ Health Human Resources Planning
Other Fact Sheets available:
~ Positive Practice Environments
~ Workplace Bullying in the Health Sector
~ An Ageing Nursing Workforce

St. Kitts & Nevis Nurses Meet Together

Theme of the Retreat:
“Empowering Nurses to Deliver Quality Health Care In the 21st Century”.
Read news report on SKNVibes: posted Monday 02 June, 2008

What the Class of 2008 Will Earn

Check out the anticipated entry level nurse's salary for 2008 in today's MSN Career News report!

Serving our Multicultural Societies

Culture Clues™ are tip sheets for clinicians, designed to increase awareness about concepts and preferences of patients from diverse cultures. Prepared by the University of Washington Medical Center, Patient & Family Services, to help health care professionals better serve their community; the value of these useful tip sheets extends beyond the Seattle area.
Copyright conditions and guidelines for use of this resource are clearly outlined on the home page.

Nursing Continuing Education Conference

The Heatlh Services Authority (HSA) of the Cayman Islands, hosted their 3rd annual nursing education conference May 15 - 19, 2008.
The conference gave local nurses the opportunity to strengthen and enhance the standard of nursing care delivered across the Cayman islands.
“There is so much that demands our attention, and there are so few of us to cover. We are working constantly, against the clock, to ease suffering and save lives”
Chief Nursing Officer Hazel Brown
Click on title for report in The Cay Compass.

NLM Global Health Exhibition

"The exhibit, called 'Against All Odds', notes how citizens and international organizations (plus scientists, physicians, and governments) have reduced 11 public health challenges in more than a dozen nations around the world." Global health issues have been declared by JAMA as meriting high priority diplomatic concern -- especially between developed and developing nations.
Click on the title to access the podcast & transcript.

Nurse Midwifery Free Online CE Modules

Designed for certified nurse midwives
& other interested health care professionals!

Modules include:
Maternal Nutrition Throughout the Childbearing Cycle
Agnes Higgins Method
Psychomotor Skills for Intrapartum Management
Birth of the Placenta
Repair of the Perineum
Nurse-Midwifery as a career

Developed by Joyce Cameron Foster
at the College of Nursing, University of Utah.

Barbadian Nurses Promised More if they Stay at Home

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, April 30, 2008 - "The Barbados government is moving to improve the nursing profession to bring it in line with international standards, encourage these health care providers to stay at home..." [at home in Barbadoes that is, not to give up their careers and stay home]. The article goes on to describe the anticipated enhancements that are expected to result from the new Nurses Bill 2008 that passed in Parliament in Barbadoes last Tuesday.
Click title to read the full article from Caribbean360.

Crisis In The Health Sector Of Caribbean Countries

Crisis In The Health Sector Of Caribbean Countries: The Impact Of Trade
Liberalization And The Movement Of Labour On Health Services In The
CARICOM, March 2008
Conference paper by
Marjorie Charles, PhD (University of the West Indies)
"This paper examines the impact of migration of nurses on the health sector in the CARICOM region and implications for policy making. It also examines the extent to which domestic regulation in the health sector can be used as a tool for policy making."[from abstract]
Click on the title for access to the full text article.

RN's per 100.000 Population ~ United States

Click on title for map and data comparing the # of nurses [RN] by state per 100,000 population:
National average ~ 799
Puerto Rico ~ 383
Arizona ~ 522
compared to
Massachusetts ~ 1,201
District of Columbia ~ 1,515

Statistics gathered by Kaiser State Health Facts , a project of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and is designed to provide free, up-to-date, and easy-to-use health data on all 50 states. [Figures dated July 2005]

ACHNE: Association of Community Health Nursing Educators

"The Association of Community Health Nursing Educators (ACHNE) provides a meeting ground for those committed to excellence in community and public health nursing education, research, and practice."
Information on the Public/Community Health Nursing Certification Exam , white paper on Disaster Preparedness, and a Job Bank provided!

What Is CampusRN.com?

Search Nursing Jobs and Healthcare Jobs

Visit CampusRN to search for thousands of jobs and scholarships.

CampusCareerCenter.com and it's new subsiduary CampusRN are in the business of recruiting, however their websites have alot of useful information for nursing students and other entry-level health care job seekers. Included on the site is information about student loans and scholarships, a resume bank, and a job bank.

Nurses per 100,000 population

Latest figures for Canada by province, 2006
from the Ontario Hospital Association's new website:
Health Systems Facts and Figures.

Where are the nurses?

Cick title to read this interesting and thought provoking article by John Dorschner of the Miami Herald. The comments are also worth reading. IUON is mentioned as well.

Nursing Salaries

For an overview look at nursing salaries in the United States check out this compilation gathered from PayScale in 2006, and posted on the AllNursingSchools website.

2007 State Snapshots: NHQR

"The State Snapshots provide State-specific health care quality information, including strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement.
The goal is to help State officials and their public- and private-sector partners better understand health care quality and disparities in their State."

Based on stats from the National Healthcare Quality Report,
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

Nursing Theory Art Gallery

You are invited to explore Jones and Bartlett's
Nursing Theory Art Gallery!

The creative works of nursing students from across the United States are exhibited, the focus being the students’ artistic impressions of nursing theory using the concepts presented in Sitzman and Eichelberger’s book "Understanding the Work of Nurse Theorists".

The Role of Nurses in Hospital Quality Improvement

Center for Studying Health System Change, Research Brief No.3, March 2008
by Debra A. Draper, Laurie E. Felland, Allison Liebhaber, Lori Melichar.

Here are a few interesting quotes for consideration:
"...hospitals confront challenges with regard to nursing involvement, including: scarcity of nursing resources; difficulty engaging nurses at all levels—from bedside to management; growing demands to participate in more, often duplicative, quality improvement activities; the burdensome nature of data collection and reporting; and shortcomings of traditional nursing education in preparing nurses for their evolving role in today’s contemporary hospital setting."

“Within the realm of nursing education, there is not the strength or emphasis on patient safety and understanding change as there should be.” ..Through academic experience, they should have the opportunity to hear about change models and understand some of the basics of the need for good information in making decisions. Data are all around nurses and they are using data for clinical decisions. We need them to understand how to use data to change practice.”
Click on the title to access the full paper.

Scope of Practice Laws in Health Care: Rethinking the Role of Nurse Practitioners

"The UCSF Center for the Health Professions have produced several items that examine the results of a national survey of NP scope of practice laws, recent legislative attempts to rework California's statutes, and opportunities for expanding California's use of NPs to address physician shortages and rising health care costs."
Click on title to access the resources.

Health Policy Reform in the 2008 Election Season

"With the 2008 presidential election dominating headlines; health policy reform and the candidates' health plans are also making news. The Commonwealth Fund has published a number of pieces that explain and analyze the candidates' proposals, as well as the issues at stake in the campaign and beyond."
Click on the title to access the documents.

Hello from Arizona

IUON BSN student reports back from her affiliate placement at Grand Canyon University. Michelle Martinez is pictured here with Dr. Jean Watson, Nursing Theorist, GCU College of Nursing.
"I met her on Monday, it was our very 1st clinical there... I loved it, it was a 12 hour shift but I was totally comfortable with it. I can definitely see myself doing this."
A special hello from all of us back on island to Michelle and our special BSN cohort in Phoenix, and thanks to Dean O'Dea and Dean Garner for sharing this.

ICHRN Interviews ILO's Director-General

In the March Spotlight Interview, Juan Somavia states:

..."the health care work force hasn't been expanding fast enough to meet the ever-growing demand for health services. Four million more health workers are required globally to meet people's essential health care needs."

Juan Somavia is the Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO). ICHRN recently spoke to Mr Somavia, an advocate of social justice, about the need for decent work for the global health workforce.
Click on title for interview transcript.

Clinical Skills Refresher

Interactive clinical skills learning resources:
from UC Davis Health System, Center for Nursing Education

Adult Basic Dysrhythmia Review Strips with Key
Review your skills by interpreting sample EKG strips and completing self-test.

Adult First Response Bag
Click on the different compartments of the bag to see their contents.

Crash Cart Contents
Review standard contents of a crash cart. Interactive images let you open drawers and review crash cart contents.

Pediatric First Response Bag
Click on different compartments of the bag to view contents.

Restraints
Information about restraints, including photographs demonstrating proper technique.

Number of Nursing School Graduates -- Including Minorities -- on the Rise But Applications to RN Programs Dip, Reflecting Impact of Tight Admissions

New York, NY (PRWEB) March 3, 2008 -- The National League for Nursing's much anticipated annual Nursing Data Review Academic Year 2005-06 has been released, and this year's is a decidedly good news/bad news report. It casts a wide lens on all types of pre-licensure nursing programs, including those offering diploma, associate and baccalaureate degrees, to determine rates of application, enrollment and graduation. The review also provides a comprehensive demographic profile of the current student population, documenting ethnic-racial identity, gender, and age...
Click title to read the news report from PR Web News Wire and watch for the full reports availability on NLN's website.

"Can the Complaining!"

So says Windsor Regional Hospital employees who seem to have created a new trend in healthcare with their anti-complaining, anti-negativity campaign.
Their slogan is:
"Can the complaining. Nix the negativity.
Cut the criticism."

[My thoughts run to Donald Sutherland's character in the movie "Kelly's Heroes". "Oddball" I believe his name was.]

Click on the title to read the article in the Windsor Star by Monica Wolfson, published Thursday, February 14, 2008.

Stress, Emotional Intelligence and Performance in Healthcare

White Paper by Lorenzo Fariselli, Joshua Freedman, Massimiliano Ghini MBA,& Federica Valentini.
Publication Date: February 25, 2008
Abstract:
"As in many fields, healthcare is a complex and stressful environment where interpersonal interactions are of paramount importance. This study finds that in a sample of 68 professional midwives and obstetricians in a large urban hospital, emotional intelligence is strongly predictive of performance (66%), stress is slightly predictive (6% to 24%), and emotional intelligence is predictive of stress management (6.5%)." Click title to read the white paper.

Online CEU's: A Directory for Nurses

This free online Continuing Education Directory service allows you to compare online classes from different CE providers. Grouped into areas of specialization, the directory focuses on nurses and other healthcare professionals.

Also keep in mind that EBSCO's Nursing Reference Center has a built-in CE module for those of you who have access to that database.

Directory of Masters Program Nursing Schools

The "Masters in Nursing" website provides a comprehensive, easy-to-navigate directory/guide to aid potential students in locating schools and finding answers to questions about current degree differences and specifications.[Limited to the United States].

Cultural Competence and Quality of Care

University of California TV; 55 minutes; aired 10/24/2007 ~
"This program explores the concepts of cultural and linguistic competency in delivery of healthcare services and in healthcare workforce development. Dr. Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola, of the UC Davis Center for Reducing Health Disparities presents an outline for a culturally proficient healthcare system."

This is just one of an extensive list of excellent vodcasts, available through UCTV & the Med Ed Hour; aimed at physicians, nurses and other health care professionals who wish to expand their knowledge & keep current.
The Med Ed Hour airs on UCTV every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 4:00 to 5:00pm (local time, GMT-4).

A New World: Told by an IUON Alumnus

I still remember the flight to St. Kitts in the turbo jet that probably just held around 12 people max. We were a mix of nursing students, medical students, veterinarian students, professors, and tourists. For some people they have been living on the island already and they were just returning from Christmas break, but for myself and a few others we were embarking on the trip of a lifetime. I remember sitting there with mixed feelings, in disbelief that I just traveled across the States and over the Atlantic to a tiny little island which I had never heard of until a month prior. At the same time my adrenaline was pumping, my eyes were wide open and I knew that this flight was either going to make me or break me.

Once I landed I was greeted by Mr. Donley Saunders and my new roommate from Florida. Since I didn't arrived at my apartment until late in the night, I just unpacked and laid in bed contemplating about the days to come. I arrived at IUON the next morning to sign up for classes and saw a few people I had met on my flight. Later I found out that a person I met on the plane would soon become one of my best friends and my future roommate in Paducah, Kentucky; the place where we would graduate from our nursing program. That night we met up with a few others and became tourists. We all had dinner together and we just about went to every hot spot in St.Kitts. We were all strangers coming from across the United States and now we were all lost in another county. We left our family and friend’s behind and entered a new world. We had a choice, to be lost by ourselves or join together and be lost together. We decided to join together.
The greatest friendships were formed, we were inseparable, but most of all we became each other’s family. We studied together, we cooked together, we explored white sand beaches together, and most of all we struggled together. For awhile we almost forgot we were living on an island. We spent every minute of the day quizzing each other on the cranial nerves, staying up all night preparing nursing care plans, performing head-to-toe assessments on each other, and even learning how to deliver a baby. The school work became vigorous and extremely demanding. We knew if we had any chance of surviving nursing school we had to work even harder. We had to make more flashcards, and utilize our time even better. We had to somehow incorporate school time and our recreational time together or we would all go insane with the rigorous amount of work. So to keep our sanity we brought our studies to the beach. Now we were 'livin' de life', sun tanning and learning about the cardiovascular system at the same time.
Life just seemed so surreal, looking outside our classroom window and watching as the waves broke on the shore.
Twenty months later and it was all finished. I still remember stepping off that first flight at St. Kitts like it was yesterday.
I currently work in the ICU at a major hospital in the Bay area. I could never have imagined making over $50 per hour or over $90,000 in my first year as a RN!
The people we met and the memories we made will never be forgotten. IUON gave us the opportunity to do what people only dream about doing. We did it, we conquered, and we passed boards.

by Roland Joon Gabriel
Feb/2/2008

HIFA 2015

Healthcare Information for All by 2015

“Applying what we know already will have a bigger impact on health and disease than any drug or technology likely to be introduced in the next decade."
Pang T, Gray M,Evans T. A 15th grand challenge for global public health. Lancet 2006; 367:2846.

"Information poverty in the ‘information age’!"
"We live in the information age, but the reality is that tens of thousands of people die every day, often for the simple reason that the parent, carer or health worker lack the information and knowledge they need to save them. And for each person who dies, many others suffer serious harm due to ineffective or unsafe care."
"People are dying from lack of knowledge"
Dr. Neil Pakenham-Walsh

The HIFA 2015 goal:
By 2015, every person worldwide will have access to an informed healthcare provider.

The Campaign framework is based on
Communication, Understanding and Advocacy.

Communication: Promoting international, regional and national cooperation HIFA 2015 brings all stakeholders together around a common purpose: healthcare providers, producers of health reference and learning materials, librarians and information professionals, health researchers, policymakers, development workers and the general public.

Understanding: Building a picture of information needs and how to meet them HIFA 2015 harnesses experience and expertise to create a web-based resource specifically about information needs and different methods to meet those needs.

Advocacy: Seeking and advocating cost-effective solutions
HIFA 2015 promotes the development of evidence-based solutions to address the information and learning needs of healthcare providers, and advocates for the political and financial commitment needed to support information and learning initiatives worldwide.

Click to listen to the Web Conference recorded January 31, 2008
entitled "Knowledge Management for Public Health ~ WHO"

Myth: Seeing a Nurse Practitioner instead of a Doctor is Second-Class Care

MythBusters is a series of essays giving the research evidence behind Canadian healthcare debates.
Click on the title to read this essay.

~ brought to you by the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation.

Nurse Entrepreneurs: Turning Initiative into Independence

Are you thinking of becoming self-employed but wondering if you have got what it takes? Not sure where to begin? Setting up your own business takes a lot of careful consideration and planning. To help you with this decision and process, albeit from a British standpoint, The Royal College of Nursing in the UK has published this valuable 56 page online guide. Click on the title to access the .pdf.

Registered nurses have lower overall mortality risk

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Nurses have a lower risk of dying from several different conditions compared with individuals in the general population,... [Jan 4, 2008]

Your New Role as Experienced Nurse: One Year into Your Career

By Karen Siroky RN MSN & NurseZone.com

"Now that you have reached that magical one-year mark, you may feel you have learned more than you ever thought you could. You may also recognize that the knowledge base for nursing in general—and your specialty in particular—is incredibly large and complex. Additionally, since health care is changing so rapidly, what you need to know today is different than what you need to know tomorrow.
So how do you stay on top of it all?" Read on...

Nursing Without Borders: Values, Wisdom, Success Markers

New publication from the Sigma Theta Tau International Honors Society of Nursing.

"This book is for all the nurses who have crossed their own borders, or might like to. It provides both visionary lessons and practical advice. It is part history, part business textbook, part travelogue, part how-to, and part inspiration.

Divided into three sections—“Values,” “Wisdom,” and “Success Markers”— Nursing Without Borders reflects the international nursing experiences of a host of nurse leaders representing diverse cultures. These leaders, pioneers in global nursing, paved a path of international partnerships and documented their stories for those considering international work."
Click on the title link for more information.