Nurses act to 'close the gap'

The International Council of Nurses (ICN), which is a federation of more than 130 national nurses associations representing the millions of nurses worldwide, commemorates International Nurses' Day each year with the production and distribution of the International Nurses' Day (IND) Kit.

The IND Kit 2012 contains educational and public information materials linked to the IND theme for 2012, which is "Closing the Gap: From Evidence to Action", for use by nurses everywhere. According to the ICN, which works to ensure quality care for all and sound health policies globally, national nurses associations (NNAs) have a pivotal role in leadership to ensure that patients receive safe, effective person-centred care, based on the best available evidence. NNAs are in a strong position to inform, engage and empower nurses at every level to work with a wide range of stakeholders including communities, employers, partners, policy makers, schools, patients and families to advance evidence-based practice, to promote well-being and ensure the best possible health outcomes.

"NNAs play an important role in building capacity across the nursing profession and in building the capacity of nurses in translating evidence to practice so that nursing fulfils its mandate of providing the best possible care using the available evidence," says the ICN, which adds that nursing has a major contribution to make to health policy. "They interact with consumers of healthcare in a wide variety of settings. This gives nurses a broad understanding of health needs and how factors in the environment might affect the health situation for clients and families, and of how people might respond to different strategies and services."

The ICN says NNAs need to work to put nurses at the policy table and develop policy briefings that make the case, present the key messages and identify the needed support. While evidence-based practice takes resources, time and effort, the outcomes make them worthwhile, according to the ICN. "Every patient deserves care that is based on the best scientific knowledge and that ensures high-quality, cost-effective care. NNAs, as a collective voice of nurses at the national level are key partners in transformation to evidence-based practice."

The ICN says NNAs must be active in promoting evidence-based practice using different approaches and focusing on changing competences and attitude to translating evidence to practice for better health outcomes. The council says NNAs also need to explore other types of activities, including behaviour-oriented approaches, approaches using structural, social or financial influence to introduce a sustainable environment for evidence-based nursing practice.

Alf James: The Star, 10 May 2012