Greetings, NSNA members and future colleagues! I hope you are all doing well and enjoying some summer weather! We talked about the International Council of Nurses Student Assembly Day, but I attended the rest of the ICN Congress of 2023 in Montreal, Canada afterwards and it was an amazing success! I had such a fantastic time meeting nurses from all over the world! The opening ceremony and parade of all the different national nursing associations in their native and cultural attire was a spiritual experience to say the least. See below for the slideshow of only some of the 136 professional national nursing associations included in the parade. During the opening ceremony, a beautiful land acknowledgement was performed with Indigenous leaders invited to share some of their rich cultural heritage with us such as throat singing, native songs, and dances. One of my favorite memories from ICN Congress 2023 was hearing from the first nurse and midwife in Somaliland, Edna Adan Ismail. After retiring, Edna saw the problems that existed in our home country’s healthcare system and sold her things, bought land, and started building a hospital for her community. Edna’s frustration lies in the fact that conditions like eclampsia that are cured in other countries are being the causes of major fatalities in her country. Therefore, Edna taught her first class of nursing students while the construction was being done and today, Edna has over 1,000 nurses and midwives to date. Another amazing plenary session I attended was Caring with Courage, a new BBC and ICN collaborative project tailored around the stories of nurses out in the community, made for the world to see on the silver screen. With only viewing some of the powerful clips, I was able to witness the unique and profound work that this collaboration and nurses in the field were able to produce. Additionally, I was able to take a master class on Robotic Surgery and how it is taking us into the 21st century and beyond. With studying and learning new technology, we can ensure that we are better equipped to serve the generation of tomorrow. With the addition of robotics, nurses need to ensure that patient care is still a priority while the surgeon may be farther away, performing the surgery with devices like the one I learned about. That night, NSNA was invited to a reception for the National League of Nursing (NLN) and it was a lovely networking opportunity where I saw some familiar faces from ANA Membership Assembly, and where I met some new faces in NLN. Overall, it was a wonderful success and spoke to the leadership of Dr. Beverly Malone, CEO of NLN, and Dr. Kathleen Pointdexter, Chair of the NLN. In the plenary session on Tuesday morning, we were able to hear from Simon Sinek, renowned leadership expert and author of bestselling book “Start With Why,” along with Leigh Chapman, Chief Nurse Officer of Canada. Their conversation on how great leaders inspire action was rejuvenating. The discussion focused on how great leaders are needed starting in nursing school and that “we need to take care of the people taking care of the people.” It left me with a recharged battery to bring back home to you all. The last morning of the conference, the plenary discussed disaster situations going on all around the world and the effects on the nursing profession due to these issues. People from Ukraine, Turkey, and Myanmar joined the morning plenary virtually to discuss the issues currently negatively affecting the population. The conditions that some of these countries are facing are horrific but nurses don’t have to worry only about the conditions of living on a battlefield and bombing sites. In Myanmar, nurses have to go into hiding and in some devastating cases, are persecuted for their line of work. It was truly heartbreaking and unsettling to learn about the issues taking place around the world. Lastly, in the closing session, Dr. Pamela Cipriano, current ICN President, past ANA President, and past NSNA President, spoke about the amazing work done at the conference and the new ICN logo that was displayed for the first time. The ICN Congress 2023 was a great success and I cannot wait to see what the ICN and the Finland Nurses Association unveil for the 2025 Congress in Finland! Comment below with any questions you have for me regarding the International Council of Nurses Congress 2023! Yours in service and signing off for now, Lauren
1 Comment
|
AuthorMy name is Lauren Lodico and I am the 2023-2024 NSNA President. I attend Molloy University in Rockville Centre, NY as a senior in their traditional program. I am expected to graduate in May 2024 with my BSN and a minor in Writing. I aspire to be a future Labor and Delivery nurse with hopes to further my education by going back to school for my Family Nurse Practitioner and PhD, so I can have the pleasure of teaching future nursing students and conducting my own research. I have also published two novels and written several unpublished in genres such as young adult romance, mystery, suspense, and more. Archives
March 2024
Categories |
ABOUTservices |
|