Nurses as key drivers of change

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the crucial role of nurses, and the contributions of nurses to achieving positive patient outcomes. But what lies beneath that statement? Nurses and nursing have always made a positive impact on individual healthcare experiences of persons.  However, during the Covid-19 pandemic the need for nurses to be responsive and adaptive has been brought into sharp focus.  For example, developing new technological solutions to compensate for loss of personal contact, new communication systems to maintain engagement and key relationships, and innovative diagnostic and treatment solutions using tele-health.  The pandemic may prove to be a game changer in many ways.

COVID-19 has also highlighted health disparities, within and between societies. Nurses probably encounter these more than any other health professional and we occupy key roles in addressing these, including the use of new and innovative technologies. Experts warn that we must prepare ourselves for future crises. But even without new covid-like crises, the challenges we face are huge. What has the WHO campaign Nursing Now (2018-2020) taught us in maximizing nurses’ contributions to achieving Universal Health Coverage?

Despite the obvious impact of effective nursing, during the pandemic the ‘hero narrative’ has prevailed. All over Europe and throughout the world, millions of nurses are impacting the lives and outcomes of people. We aim to be key drivers of change, to enhance the transitions needed in nursing care, education, and research to future-proof nursing and the health of nurses. Future proofing also means health care with less emissions. If the health sector were a country, it would be the fifth-largest emitter on the planet. As the biggest group of health professionals, nurses should also address this theme.

ENC22 wants to contribute to future proofing of nursing.

We invite fellow nurses, researchers, educators, policymakers, patients, and technicians to join us. Share your stories, pandemic related or not. Present your best practices and research, but also your key learning. We want at times to be disruptive, to force ourselves to challenge, re-establish or re-think our attitudes, habits, and mindset.

Of course, we’ll have exciting world-renowned keynote speakers share their insights. But you’ll also meet persons with health problems, some of whom manage without nurses. What can we learn from them?

A virtual event, combined with local physical hubs

ENC22 welcomes attendees from all over Europe and the rest of world. A variety of attractive work forms will be used, with the latest and most exciting virtual alternatives for physical presentations, informal meetings and networking with fellow attendees and companies. The organizers encourage and facilitate the formation of local, regional, and national hubs, where attendees can follow the virtual events together.

ENC22 focuses on four major transitions:

People cope differently with health problems, that is a key component of being a person. Nurses should work with persons to figure out what they want, and to enable them to make the choices that are right for them, based on up-to-date knowledge, state-of-the-art technological possibilities, and clinical best practices. Nurses also increasingly play a role in preventing individual and collective health problems. And in helping people distinguish between fake news – often spread via social media – and real facts, to enhance their health literacy. Nurses also must address their environmental footprint. How can we reduce the environmental impact of healthcare and help to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s)?

Topics:

  • Person-centred nursing
  • Whole person functioning
  • Co-decision making and advanced care planning (ACP)
  • Patients as co-researchers
  • Personalized healthcare interventions
  • SDG’s: nursing contributions
  • Disease prevention
  • Health literacy and social media

COVID 19 has highlighted yet another inconvenient truth: decisions are economics driven rather than patient and society needs driven!  How can nurses help to break down financial and other barriers in doing the right thing, in working towards integrated care? In most health care systems providing integrated care is a key priority. Increasingly, care is provided at home or close to home. What is the evidence for models of integrated care? How can nurses stimulate social care, nursing, and medical care to work together?

Topics:

  • Whole systems approaches & complexity science
  • Models of care and the nursing contribution to their development
  • Developments and innovations in clinical (nursing) practice
  • Nursing in a low touch environment
  • Ethical, moral and legal issues in integrated healthcare

During the pandemic nurses were heralded as healthcare heroes. But many nurses experience physical and mental health challenges. We must develop coping strategies to show we can do our job without damage to our health. Across Europe we are facing enormous shortages of nurses, high workload and governance structures that hamper the influence of nurses on health care policies. We need to work towards a sustainable workforce, where we better value nurses, give them attractive career paths and autonomy. How can we achieve this? How can nursing leadership contribute? Does the Magnet concept help to optimize outcomes and how can we empower the nursing workforce to have a significant impact?

Topics:

  • Nursing recruitment and retention
  • Ownership
  • Developments in leadership
  • Engagement and empowerment
  • Workplace cultures
  • Nurses’ mental health and wellbeing
  • Nurses’ physical health and wellbeing
  • Innovative and alternative career paths for nurses

Technology is omnipresent nowadays: we work on computers, have zoom meetings and use apps all the time. COVID-19 has given these developments an enormous boost. But the overwhelming number of new apps and technologies makes it difficult to make the right choice. Proactive inclusion of technology should therefore be the new paradigm. How can we use sensor technology, accelerometry, artificial intelligence in our work, and use it to support patients in their self-management, intervene timely or monitor people from a distance? ENC22 will discuss the latest technologies.

Topics:

  • Implementation science theories, models and approaches
  • Health technologies
  • Tele-health innovations
  • Digitalization strategies and methods
  • Sensor technology
  • Artificial intelligence
  • Innovative evaluation methodologies
  • Ethical and juridical aspects of automatization

 Abstracts

Abstracts can be submitted on any of the above topics, from three perspectives:

  • Research
  • Technology and Implementation
  • Leadership and Education