On the ground with the president
63rd World Health Assembly
While I was in Geneva for the International Council of Nurses National
Nursing Associations (NNA) Representatives meeting I was given the amazing
opportunity to be part of the ICN delegation to the World Health Assembly
held in the United Nations building.
I was also invited to make a presentation to the NNAs on Supporting NNA
Growth. There was a very interesting
presentation on Nurses’ Empowerment
and Policy-making from Becky Patton
(US). The American Nurses Association
supported President Obama’s health
policy and successfully campaigned,
not only for his election as President,
but also in lobbying for the health bill.
Becky showed many examples of how
effective and powerful nurses and midwives are when they believe in a cause.
And while in Geneva I had the
opportunity to participate in the Triad
meeting that involved government
chief nursing and midwifery officers,
representatives of national nursing and
midwifery associations and regulatory
bodies from 85 countries together with
the ICM, the ICN and the WHO.
Three themes were examined – the
economic crisis, its impact and the
way forward; the growing burden of
chronic disease and health system
strengthening. Further details of the
communiqué that was agreed are
available on www.icn.ch
First European Biosafety Summit
I att e nd e d t h e f i r s t E u r o p e a n
Biosafety Summit in Madrid along with
Annette Kennedy, director of professional development in June. An area
that Annette has long been involved
with is the prevention of sharps injuries in the hospital and healthcare
sector. The summit was organised by
the recently constituted European
Biosafety Network, established following the final adoption of the new
European Directive on Sharps injuries,
with a key commitment to improve
the safety of patients and healthcare
and non-healthcare workers.
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President-SM-AM-AK.indd 1
WIN
Documentation
Those of you who were at ADC would have heard our colleague Breda McHugh
from Sligo Branch speaking on this topic. I hope she won’t mind me giving the gist
of what she said.
“Johnny comes in for respite. I take a picture of Johnny for his care plan. I then give
Johnny a shower and realise I must take another picture for his drug chart bearing in
mind that the before and after pictures are very different. Then Johnny wants to talk to
me about the horse or the dog/horse he left at home. I say Johnny I have no time to talk
to you because I have to write something about you.”
Does this sound familiar? I am amazed and perplexed as to where all this extra
documentation has come from and why we continue to accept more and more
paperwork without looking for the 'evidence base' that justifies the need or the
benefit to the patient. I have examples of some of the care pathways, etc. being introduced particularly in care of the older person facilities and I am extremely worried
by these 'tick list' documents as I believe they remove nurses and midwives from
making autonomous decisions on patient care.
The INMO has met with the HSE, which in turn is to meet with HIQA, we understand, with a view to looking at streamlining the documentation currently being
used. I have also sent copies of some of the documentation in use to the HSE looking
for clarification as to its purpose so I would ask all members to question the need for
any further roll out of any new documentation in light of further clarification which
is awaited.
New Executive Council
As you are reading this the first meeting of the newly elected Executive Council will
have taken place. Please have a look on pages 19-21 to familiarise yourself with the people
who you have entrusted to represent you for the next two years. Always remember
that the union belongs to you, the member, and we need to hear from you, positive or
negative, particularly as we continue to face uncharted waters. Even in these difficult
economic times I believe that this Organisation can and will influence change to create
a more positive practice environment for all members. Ní neart gan cur le cheile.
Happy holidays
As I wish you all a happy summer I will leave you with something that was sent to
me (and apologies in advance to male members)… Three men were hiking through
a forest when they came upon a large raging violent river. Needing to get to the
other side the first man prayed ‘God, please give me the strength to cross the river.’
Poof! God gave him big arms and strong legs and he was able to swim across in
about two hours having almost drowned twice. After witnessing that, the second
man prayed ‘God, please give me strength and the tools to cross the river.’ Poof! God
gave him a row boat and strong arms and strong legs and he was able to row across
in about an hour after almost capsizing once. Seeing what happened to the first
two men the third man prayed ‘God, please give me the strength, the tools and the
intelligence to cross the river.’ Poof! He was turned into a woman, she checked the
map, hiked 100 yards upstream and walked across the bridge!
Get in touch
You can contact me at the INMO headquarters
at Tel: 01- 6640 600, through the president’s
corner on www.inmo.ie or by email to:
[email protected]
July/August 2010 Vol 18 Iss 7
24/06/2010 10:22:57