Nursing Now: A Global Campaign

Abstract

Across the globe, examples of nursing practice illustrate the varied and diverse aspects of the professional roles and responsibilities which nurses hold. In remote parts of the world, a nurse may be the first and only health professional whom people see for their health care needs, which fosters enormous creativity and innovation in providing care. Such a nurse is usually also a part of the local community, and shares in the cultural strengths and challenges. In other parts of the world, nurses may be advanced practitioners, who practice independently but collaboratively, with the capability to diagnose and manage a range of disorders while also promoting health and positive coping among patients with chronic illness. Furthermore, in many areas, nurses are challenged because they are not able to practice to the full extent of their education and training, due to political, professional, or economic restraints. The broad scale and range of roles in which nurses practice is one of the things that actually makes nursing unique. However, most nurses will likely have shared concerns about those factors which may result in poor quality of care: problems with staffing and poor facilities, as well as inadequate education, training, and support. While specific needs may vary from one location to another, the combination of knowledge, skills, and values which nurses offer is needed everywhere. Recognizing that health care is a universal right, we are currently in a global campaign to raise the status and profile of nurses. Known as “Nursing Now” (www.nursingnow.org), the initiative was launched by the Burdett Trust for Nursing in the United Kingdom (UK) in collaboration with the International Council of Nurses and the World Health Organization. More than 30 countries were represented at the launch-day activities held in February 2018, and Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge serves as the official patron of the campaign. The goals and recommendations for the Nursing Now campaign are largely the result of findings reported in the All-Parliamentary Group Triple Impact Report from the UK (All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global Health 2016All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global HealthTriple impact: How developing nursing will improve health, promote gender equality and support economic growth.2016http://www.who.int/hrh/com-heeg/digital-APPG_triple-impact.pdfGoogle Scholar). Underscoring that nurses are too often undervalued and their contributions underestimated, the report concluded that nursing must be strengthened to achieve universal health coverage. Moreover, a global commitment to strengthen nursing will have the triple impact of improving health, improving gender equality by empowering women, and building stronger economies. Based on the findings of the Triple Impact report, the Nursing Now campaign focuses on five core areas: greater investment in education and professional development, engaging nurses in leadership positions, enhancing nurses’ influence in policy decisions, sharing best practices, and conducting research to assess where nurses can have the greatest impact. These goals are similar to those outlined in the Institute of Medicine report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health (Institute of Medicine 2011Institute of Medicine. (2011). The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.Google Scholar). The Nursing Now campaign is ambitious but also timely. Nurses and midwives make up the largest percentage of health care professionals worldwide. However, it is projected that we will face a global shortfall of 9 million nurses by 2030. The international board leading Nursing Now and the International Council of Nurses have developed specific action plans for the campaign. Because nurses share the ability to identify individual and population health needs, implement health promotion and preventative measures, and mobilize resources to address individual, family, and community health needs, the expected outcomes and global dissemination of the work of the Nursing Now campaign have the potential to be very powerful indeed. The three-year Nursing Now campaign is due to officially end in 2020, as nurses around the world will celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale. By all of us becoming more fully informed and participating in the actions recommended by the Nursing Now campaign, we would also offer a fitting tribute to the founder of modern nursing.