An interview with Dr. Judith Shamian, president, International Council of Nurses

Judith Shamian, RN, PhD, LLD (hon), D.Sci (hon), FAAN, is the president of the International Council of Nurses (ICN). Previous positions include immediate past president and CEO of the Victorian Order of Nurses, immediate past President of the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA), executive director of the Office of Nursing Policy at Health Canada and vice-president of nursing at Mount Sinai Hospital. She is the recipient of numerous awards including the Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100 award; the Golden Jubilee Medal from the Governor General of Canada; and CNA's 2008 Centennial Award. From my mentor, colleague and friend here are some insights shared with CJNL about her current work and challenges

Collaborative development and maintenance of health terminologies

The quest for a standardized terminology that can meet the varying needs of healthcare practice, and requirements for secondary use, is ongoing. The number of potential users and the number of potential uses for standardized terminologies make collaborative development, rather than the traditional de jure approach, an imperative, and there appears to be significant worldwide interest in this area. In this article we describe an initiative of the International Council of Nurses (ICN), ICNP C-Space (Collaborative Space), which utilized a social media platform to encourage and facilitate global collaborative development of its terminology, the International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP(®)). We report on several years of experience of managing the platform and provide valuable lessons on collaborative terminology development. Our experience suggests that web-based platforms such as ICNP C-Space certainly offer the promise of a broader, wider-reaching, and more inclusive community of contributors to the terminology development process. However, there are also potential limitations for which we provide practical recommendations.

Advocacy of those who care

Equity and access to health care was the theme of the International Council of Nurses' 25th Quadrennial Congress, held in Melbourne earlier this year. Speakers referred to links between economic status and a person's ability to access even basic health care services.

[International nursing research networks, essential resources]

Research enables the nursing profession to develop its nursing practices. From an international point of view, France has fallen behind in this field. There exist several international and European structures devoted to research which provide French nurses with high quality tools.

Presidential Priorities: 50 Years of Wisdom as the Basis of an Action Agenda for the Next Half-Century

Each of the living presidents of the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM), past and current, was asked to select one or more issues that were of particular importance during her term(s) in office. Some of the issues identified by the presidents were amenable to review using existing quantitative data; this article presents those findings. The substantial increase in growth of ACNM membership in the 1980s and 1990s as well as the plateau that occurred at the beginning of the 21st century is documented. The relationship between ACNM and the professions of nursing, medicine, and other public health providers is illustrated. The increase in the number of Certified Nurse-Midwife/Certified Midwife (CNM/CM) education programs and the evolution and current profile of curriculum models are discussed. Finally, expansion of the scope of midwifery practice and the growing number of opportunities for entrepreneurial practice are presented in terms of current practice profiles, practice sites and settings, various employer-employee relationships, and the variety of financial reimbursement streams. This article is intended to complement the broader body of information about ACNM's history, and particularly, to supplement the richness of information derived from the qualitative and historical research inquiries conducted by others.

[Professional socialization of nurses ensuring practice activity]

The aim of this study was to evaluate professional socialization of nurses and its association with assurance of practice activity.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The study was carried out in randomly selected Lithuanian health care institutions from January to June 2007. A total of 1300 nurses, enrolled in the study, were divided into three groups according to the position held by participants: general practice nurses, 77.8%; senior nurses and leaders, 10.7%; and 4th-year students of general nurse education program, 11.5%. A questionnaire-based survey was carried out. The data were processed with SPSS 15.0 statistical software. Descriptive and multidimensional statistical methods were applied in the study. The matrix model, integrating characteristics of nurses' professional socialization and dimensions of practice activity and disclosing parameters and indicators of assurance of these processes, was applied for data analysis.

RESULTS

The respondents favorably evaluated the aspects ensuring professional socialization and practice activity such as "professional activity," "motivators of professional activity," "professional characteristic," "system of professional values," and "professional behavior." The respondents unfavorably evaluated the following parameters: "security of professional self-expression and self-education," "professional development," "professional expectations," and "implementation of institution strategies."

CONCLUSIONS

For the evaluation of nurses' professional socialization and practice activity, a theoretical model was created, and nine diagnostic criteria, integrating the characteristics of professional socialization and dimensions of practice activity, were formulated. A significant positive correlation was determined among the majority of the diagnostic criteria of the intercorrelation matrix of theoretical model. Having summarized the attitude of nurses toward professional socialization and the provision of practice activity, both favorable and unfavorable aspects of assessment tendencies of these processes were revealed. The study results and nonparametric analysis showed that sociodemographic factors have an impact on nurses' attitudes toward professional socialization and the assurance of practice activity.

[Promotion of and reflections on the professional image of community health nurses]

Deteriorating global economic conditions, contractions in medical service budgets, and the excessive medicalization of community service systems have marginalized the role of the community health nurse. As such, community health nursing experts have a responsibility to do their best to reconstruct a positive and active image for community health nursing. This article provides four recommended actions to promote the image of community health nurses. These include: (1) Enhance community nursing practice level and scope; (2) Promote autonomous and independent practice; (3) Facilitate cultural competence and (4) Advance education and in-service training. It is hoped that information in this article may serve as a reference for nursing researchers in making relevant plans and encourage the development of a more specialized role for community health nursing. The ultimate goal of such should be successful promotion of the professional image of community nurses and of community nursing.

[Community health nursing development: answering the ICN call]

Community-based care is increasingly becoming the mainstream approach to healthcare around the world due to rapid growth in elderly populations, health technology improvements and rising healthcare costs. The International Council of Nurses (ICN), reflecting the call in the 1978 Declaration of Alma-Ata to improve primary health care worldwide, designated "Delivering Quality, Serving Communities" as the theme of International Nurses' Day for two consecutive years. The purpose of this paper is to review strategies listed in the 2008 and 2009 International Nurses' Day Kit developed by the ICN, explore the current situation of community health nursing in Taiwan, and provide suggestions related to future preparation of professional nursing development and policymaking in Taiwan.