Assessing the country-level involvement of nurses in COVID-19 vaccination campaigns: A qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: As each country individually manages the COVID-19 pandemic, mass vaccination campaigns have varied considerably. Implementation campaigns often depend on nurses; however, nurses are not consistently involved in higher-level planning, prioritization, and policy development decisions. This study aimed to examine the involvement and engagement of nurses in country-level COVID-19 mass vaccination policies and practices in 10 Office of Economic Cooperation and Development countries, identify barriers and factors to enhancing the engagement of nurses in the evidence-informed mass vaccination decision-making processes, and suggest areas for improvement. METHODS: A qualitative study using in-depth semi-structured interviews was conducted as a follow-up study to an International Council of Nurses survey. The study sample included a purposeful sample of 14 country-representative nurses from 10 Office of Economic Cooperation and Development countries. Interview questions focused on each country's overall COVID-19 vaccination campaign and policies, participants' perspectives regarding the involvement of nurses in the planning, design, and implementation of the mass vaccination program observed outcomes, and the impact of nursing on the outcomes. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, translated where necessary, coded, and thematically analyzed. RESULTS: Main areas of involvement identified by participants were membership in advising and decision-making committees, operationalization planning, implementation and coordination processes, education efforts, and nurses' interactions with the media. Seven themes emerged among perceived facilitators of nursing involvement: existing systems and infrastructure, nursing profession-related skills and competencies, communication and messaging, multidisciplinary and interagency work, recognition and visibility of nurses and nursing, trust in nurses, and nursing pride. Meanwhile, perceived barriers included lack of a voice, recognition and appreciation for nursing, workforce-related challenges, decentralization of responsibility and authority, supply and access issues, downstream effects of the pandemic, and non-COVID-related nursing barriers. Three main themes emerged among suggestions made by participants for improved involvement of nursing: culture change within nursing and healthcare, opportunities and momentum to build upon, and perceptions of responsible parties. CONCLUSIONS: Nurses play a central role in providing health services but are inconsistently included in the policy, planning, and decision-making processes. Findings highlighted the critical importance of nursing leadership roles and expanded roles for nurses. Nursing should be represented by high-level leaders as part of multidisciplinary decision-making groups, educational initiatives for involvement in health policy should be implemented in nursing schools and continuing education, and advocacy and inclusion efforts should utilize bottom-up and top-down approaches concurrently.

Nursing our planet.

AIM: The aim of this article is to explore the role of nurses with regards to climate change and other humanitarian challenges. BACKGROUND: The climate crisis facing our planet is not just about extreme weather events. To be properly understood and addressed, climate change should be recognised as a global public health emergency that needs urgent attention from governments everywhere. DISCUSSION: In this article, International Council of Nurses (ICN) Chief Executive Officer Howard Catton discusses the links between climate change, nursing practice and advocacy. He argues that the crises the world faces, including those related to global warming, can be handled better if they are understood as public health crises, and that having nurses involved in policymaking at every level in society provides the best chance of individuals' health needs being met. Conclusion and Implications for Nursing and/or Health Policy: Nurses must be actively involved in policymaking that addresses the humanitarian and public health impact of climate change and natural and human-made disasters. Only half the world's countries have a government-level chief nursing officer who is able to represent the nursing profession at the highest levels of policymaking. This deficit should be corrected as soon as possible so that the voices of nurses are heard and respected, and patients everywhere can benefit from the direct input of nursing into all government policies that influence people's health and well-being.

International Nurses Day: Nurses can change the world, given the investment and support they deserve.

Every year on International Nurses Day (IND), the International Council of Nurses (ICN) releases a report with resources that can be used by nurses around the world. This year's report responds to the World Health Organization's (WHO) latest strategy for nursing and midwifery, and the findings of the State of the World's Nursing report. In this article, ICN Chief Executive Officer Howard Catton describes the main points of the IND report and recommends that nurses everywhere read it, alongside the WHO strategy, and use that information to increase their knowledge of the global nursing workforce and influence global healthcare policy. It is a toolkit that can assist nurses, other healthcare providers, governments and international organisations to turn global strategy into meaningful local action and improved clinical practice on the ground.

Two years into the pandemic massive investment in nursing is more urgent than ever.

The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us some very painful lessons about underinvestment in healthcare and the lack of adequate preparation for a pandemic. In this article, ICN Chief Executive Officer Howard Catton examines the World Health Organization's review of global preparedness and looks to the future and how nursing can contribute to better planning and health outcomes for all.

International Council of Nurses representing nursing at the World Health Organization: COVID-19, policy and holding politicians to account.

The International Council of Nurses is in a unique position to represent nurses at the World Health Organization, and its task has never been more urgent than this year. Amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, the death rates of nurses and other health care workers are truly shocking, with around 115 000 deaths. However, many countries do not collect statistics on health and care workers' deaths and infections from COVID-19, so the full extent of this awful situation is not known. At this year's World Health Assembly, the body that sets the World Health Organization's agenda for the following year, the International Council of Nurses' 50-strong delegation voiced the concerns of nurses and ensured that the views and advice of nurses were heard by the World Health Organization's 194 member states' delegates. Here, the International Council of Nurses' Chief Executive Officer Howard Catton describes how the Council is influencing health and care policy worldwide. He urges nurses everywhere to hold their politicians to account.

ROLE OF NURSING IN REHABILITATION.

Evidence shows that, in order to attain optimum outcomes, rehabilitation interventions should be delivered by multi-professional teams. A rehabilitation nurse is one of the relevant rehabilitation professionals. The model of nursing care has shifted from the traditional model (a passive role of patients) to a complex and modern concept of nursing in supporting patients to independently and actively perform self-care. This paper briefly introduces the role of nurses in rehabilitation, from the point of view of rehabilitation service delivery, which is relevant in all phases and types of rehabilitation care, including acute rehabilitation, post-acute rehabilitation, long-term rehabilitation, nursing home and geriatric care, and in community- based rehabilitation service.

Nurses and Midwives as Global Partners to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in the Anthropocene.

PURPOSE: To highlight ongoing and emergent roles of nurses and midwives in advancing the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 at the intersection of social and economic inequity, the climate crisis, interprofessional partnership building, and the rising status and visibility of the professions worldwide. DESIGN: Discussion paper. METHODS: Literature review. FINDINGS: Realizing the Sustainable Development Goals will require all nurses and midwives to leverage their roles and responsibility as advocates, leaders, clinicians, scholars, and full partners with multidisciplinary actors and sectors across health systems. CONCLUSIONS: Making measurable progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals is critical to human survival, as well as the survival of the planet. Nurses and midwives play an integral part of this agenda at local and global levels. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Nurses and midwives can integrate the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals into their everyday clinical work in various contexts and settings. With increased attention to social justice, environmental health, and partnership building, they can achieve exemplary clinical outcomes directly while contributing to the United Nations 2030 Agenda on a global scale and raising the profile of their professions.

COVID-19: The future of nursing will determine the fate of our health services.

Preparing the world to manage future pandemics must take priority. It is clear that we were not prepared for the COVID-19 pandemic which continues to cause great suffering around the world. Nurses and other health professionals everywhere must be involved in health policy planning and implementation of public health measures to combat this and future pandemics. Such preparation needs community policy involvement at grassroots levels and needs to be collaboratively instigated at international levels. The death so far of over 2000 nurses is unacceptable in this pandemic, and we need to better protect and sustain the workforce. The International Council of Nurses has been instrumental in data gathering of nurses' experiences during COVID-19. Key points from analysis of this data have been included in Second Progress Report of the World Health Organization's Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response. This paper summarises the key messages from this report, as well as the nursing shortage. The International Council of Nurses resounds the call for massive investment in nursing education, leadership and jobs, as well as protection for our nurses on the frontlines of the pandemic.

Tackling diabetes: how nurses can make the difference.

This year, World Diabetes Day on 14 November coincides with the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife, and therefore focuses on highlighting the role of nurses in the prevention and management of diabetes.Diabetes is recognized as an important cause of premature death and disability globally and in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, where its prevalence has been steadily increasing since 1990. Although the annual decline of the risk of dying from a major noncommunicable disease between the ages of 30 and 70 years is slowing globally, diabetes is showing a 5% increase in attributed premature mortality. In 2016, diabetes was the direct cause of 1.6 million deaths globally and 43% of all deaths before the age of 70 years occur due to high blood glucose. Overweight and obesity are the strongest risk factors for type 2 diabetes. In addition, diabetes increases the risk of heart disease and stroke and is a leading cause of blindness, lower limb amputation and kidney failure. A study conducted in 35 countries indicated that people living with diabetes are more likely to experience catastrophic health expenditures with an estimated increase of 4% between diabetic and non-diabetic individuals, regardless of their insurance status.

Global nursing leadership: alive and kicking in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues its journey around the world, it has triggered a global nursing response, with nurses everywhere working to save the lives of their extremely sick patients. In parallel with the frontline response, the International Council of Nurses, the World Health Authority and the International Confederation of Midwives have used their biennial Triad meetings to set out what needs to be done from a global perspective to protect nurses and the people they serve. At a time of crisis, it is imperative that the world's nursing leaders, through ICN's National Nursing Associations, step up to give support and guidance at this historically unsettling time.

Nursing in the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond: protecting, saving, supporting and honouring nurses.

As the world tackles the largest public health event in more than a century, the COVID-19 pandemic, the true value of nursing is being seen by politicians and the public. But while nurses are being praised for the vital work they do, many are being put into high-risk situations, and some have died, because of a shortage of appropriate, high-quality personal protective equipment. The International Council of Nurses has called for governments to make the provision of such equipment their number one priority to prevent further loss of life among the nurses caring for the world's most vulnerable patients.

Nursing and health policy perspectives 2020 - a year to remember or one to forget?

2020 has certainly been a year of challenges for nurses and healthcare workers around the world with the relentless spread of COVID-19. These challenges are many, including countries and health systems not being prepared for a pandemic, shortages of personal protective equipment and acute shortages of nurses, poor communication from governments and the lack of accurate data regarding COVID-19 morbidity and mortality among nurses and health workers. Nurses are suffering from psychological distress and are exhausted and burntout as the pandemic's second wave moves around the world. Many have been subjected to violence and aggression from people in their communities. Against this backdrop, nurses' contributions have been vital in saving lives and the profession has learnt many powerful lessons that will resonate in nursing practice for the future. But governments must do more, including ensuring nurses receive vaccinations early to protect them when a successful vaccine becomes available.

International Council of Nurses: putting nurses at the centre of the world's policymaking has benefits for us all.

This year's International Council of Nurses Congress in Singapore was an opportunity for nurses from around the world to discuss and shape policy and practice around the world. The World Health Organization recognises ICN's unique ability to influence its policies, represent nursing and help with the challenges that lie ahead, including a potential shortfall of nine million nurses by 2030. All nurses can get involved in efforts to raise the profile of the profession and attract a new generation who will continue to maintain the high standards expected of registered nurses for decades to come.