Editorial

Abstract

In my first issue as editor of INR, I promised to facilitate a lively international exchange of readers’ ideas and experiences. I shared my goal of starting a dialogue in which nurses talk about their strengths, needs and issues. I also expressed my belief that such an exchange within the pages of INR would strengthen and unite nurses around the world. This issue illustrates how creative such an exchange can be. Six lively original articles communicate, in different formats, very different aspects of nursing. One article helps us understand the meaningfulness of an encounter with Ebola through pictures drawn by survivors of the virus in Uganda. Congratulations to the authors for their innovative approach to communication. We need more such articles (and correspondence) on issues of importance to nurses that are difficult to capture using conventional methodologies. Another article using more traditional descriptive methodology describes 30 women's knowledge and perceptions of Pap smear screening in Botswana. The findings for women from low socio-economic groups show a cultural norm of secrecy, providers not informing the public, and policy makers’ limited attention to cervical cancer. Yet there is a high incidence of cervical cancer in Botswana. This is the kind of small, preliminary investigation that international sponsors should follow up with a larger study. The remaining four original articles originate from authors located in Japan (and USA), Bahrain, Taiwan and Sweden. One is a fascinating account of 12 North American nurse educators working long-term in Japan. Their experiences suggest that nurses considering working overseas need adequate preparation, including language development, before embarking on such an adventure. Another article discusses the process of developing a strategic plan for nursing development in Bahrain. There are clearly lessons for nurses in the experiences described. In 1996 I visited Bahrain to give a keynote address at the First Conference of the Global Network of WHO Collaborating Centres for Nursing and Midwifery Development. I know from this experience just how hard nurses there have worked to develop their practice, education and regulation. Finally this issue presents articles originating from research in two countries half a world apart. One article concerns job satisfaction of hospital nurses in Taiwan, while the other explores novice Swedish students’ perspectives of caring. Using totally different methodologies, both studies have messages for health care managers regarding nurses’ expectations. In summary you will discover in this issue a variety of ways of investigating and communicating different aspects of nursing. I hope that you will consider contributing your own findings and experiences to the international exchange presented within the pages of INR. And I encourage you to use nonconventional formats.