Languages: English, French, Spanish

The official Opening Ceremony of the 2021 Congress of the International Council of Nurses will include a virtual Parade of ICN National Nursing Associations, the formal presentation of ICN Awards, and special cultural entertainment from the United Arab Emirates.  Special guests will include Her Royal Highness Princess Muna al-Hussein. 

Language: English

Prescriptive authority for nurses and allied health professionals has been gaining momentum in many countries across the world. Much of this drive has come as a response to the changing landscape of healthcare demands, concerns regarding access to care, the evolution of healthcare systems and the professionals who provide care. This policy café will explore prescriptive authority for nurses and the recently released ICN Guidelines on the subject. Participants will be able hear firsthand about ICN’s position on prescriptive authority and what it means for nursing across the world.

Language: English

The Girl Child Education Fund (GCEF) m the signature initiative of the ICN’s Florence Nightingale International Foundation, supports the primary and secondary schooling of girls under the age of 18 in Eswatini, Kenya, Uganda and Zambia, whose nurse parent or parents have died. ICN works in partnerships with its national nurses associations in these countries to administer the Fund on the ground.  In this session, our four NNAs will present their work, experiences and testimonials to raise awareness of the continuing need to support the daughters of their nursing colleagues by donating to the GCEF.

Language: English

Jhpiego has stood as a leading supporter of the nursing and midwifery expanded role during the HIV epidemic, both at its onset and now as the disease has progressed to a chronic management condition. There are growing concerns that the global focus on the COVID-19 pandemic has side-lined resources and attention given to addressing HIV and other SRH concerns in a new and evolving healthcare landscape. Nurses have and will continue to play a key role in HIV and other SRH prevention, service delivery and management strategies.  As a health workforce, nurses remain central to achieving the UNAIDS target of focused action on scale-up, increasing uptake and innovation for acceleration of partnerships, methods, devices and policies to create a culture of health seeking around HIV and SRH. After a wide-ranging overview of the progress of the other epidemic through the lens of wider SRH, this symposium will explore the various roles that nurses play in the HIV epidemic including their roles in PMCTC, VMMC, Prep and HIV treatment past, present and future.

Languages: English, French, Spanish

With the mortality rate continuing to climb, the unknown trajectory of morbidity, and increasing viral mutations, COVID-19 is part of a long trajectory of failure to recognise the extraordinary biological precariousness of political and social life. This plenary session looks at the compounding factors that contributed to this crisis, the global response to it and lessons for future preparedness. The session will be moderated by former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Rt Hon. Helen Clark who chaired the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response. She will be joined by a global panels of experts from across the world.

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Nursing practice across the EMRO region has evolved during the previous decades to transform the nursing profession into one of the most important pillars of the healthcare system. This regional session will present nurses as leading the way for safe, effective, efficient and patient centred care, guided by innovation. It will highlight the challenges faced by nurses in the region and approaches to turn those challenges into opportunities, using evidence-based practice, research and education and led by strong leadership and policy makers through a culturally diversified and spiritually sensitive environment.  The session will shed light on the progress of the nursing profession in different countries in the region, and outline recent policies and regulations and how they helped empower the nursing profession and improve healthcare across the region

Language: English

The role of nurse has grown significantly throughout the 21st century. Although each role carries different responsibilities, the primary goal of a professional nurse remains the same: to be the client's advocate and provide optimal care based on evidence obtained through research. Nursing research is critical to the profession and necessary for advancing nursing care, influencing policy, and promoting global health. This session will highlight the importance of nursing research and examine the role of nurses in leading research, including the challenges they face, emerging opportunities, and the way forward.

Languages: English, French, Spanish

The global COVID-19 pandemic has challenged nurse leaders across all levels of service delivery. Along with ongoing priorities of providing high quality, patient centred, cost-effective and safe care, nurse leaders are also committed to creating environments that support excellence in patient and family experience. This session will provide an examination and exemplars of how nurse leaders across the European Region have been actively involved in decision-making, adapted to novel situations and issues, ensured reliable and safe delivery of care and engaged patients, families and the nursing workforce to create excellent experiences of care during the pandemic. The session will discuss ways to make nursing leadership visible at all levels and how it will change into the future.

Languages: English

Language: English

Prior to the COVID pandemic, WHO estimated that six million more nurses will be needed by 2030 for nursing to fully contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals. However, ICN estimates that the COVID Effect has increased this shortage to 13 million. Nursing education programmes are increasing enrolments, but a nurse educator shortage and insufficient resources may jeopardize quality. In addition, differences in pre-licensure educational qualifications for nurses are a barrier to their mobility. This symposium will examine the role of accreditation in facilitating quality nursing education and the mobility of nurses in the context of a global nursing shortage. With examples from Canada, China and the USA, it will provide a platform to examine national accreditation programmes for nursing education and their role in addressing a global need for an expanded and mobile workforce of well-educated nurses. Strategies to advance the quality of nursing education and initiatives for retaining and retraining nurses will be explored.

Language: English

The session will share experiences and perspectives from healthcare providers and others on HIV-related stigma and discrimination, including some reflection on stigmas related to COVID-19.  Evidence will add to these perspectives and to the impact on global HIV goals.  The symposium will speak to compassion as a foundation to quality care; and share a compassion lens to understanding stigma and how to tackle it. Lastly, interventions will be shared that reduce stigma and discrimination, ranging from education and training to practice, policy and leadership. Participants should leave this session with actions that they intend to do, knowing that small actions are possible, they make a difference, and amplify over time.

Language: English

Join Sigma’s 33rd President, Richard Ricciardi, PhD, RN, for a presentation on the Presidential Call to Action, Infuse Joy, and its connection to three essential elements – the ABCs – that promote joy: Awareness, Balance & Purpose, and Co-creation. In the nursing profession, we are well positioned to infuse joy into practice in clinical, educational, administrative, research and policy settings.

Language: English

This session will elevate the voices and perspectives of nurses and midwives who are delivering COVID-19 vaccines and/or routine immunizations to better inform policy discussions/decisions on vaccine equity and acceptance globally and in their communities. Winners of a Nursing Now Global Solutions Initiative Challenge will receive storytelling and advocacy training to develop their stories and deliver them at the session to inspire nurses, midwives and other health workers to be at the forefront of advocating for vaccine equity and acceptance in their communities and globally.

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, global health security was threatened by population growth, climate change, rapid urbanisation, and environmental degradation. SARS, Ebola, Zika and other new disease epidemics emerging at unprecedented rates and pose some of the greatest risks to the global economy and security faced today. This session will look at the global public health security activities required to minimise the danger and impact of acute public health events that endanger people’s health across geographical regions and international boundaries.

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Technological innovations can relieve nurses of the burden of many monotonous and repetitive tasks; especially in a pandemic where time is of essence. The WHO’s State of the World’s Nursing Report 2020 highlights the importance of technology in both nursing education and practice. This session looks at ways in which we can harness the power of technology to improve access, reduce risks and improve healthcare.

Languages: English, French, Spanish

This live, virtual session will shine a light on current and evolving initatives to drive and realise investments in the health workforce, including nursing, for improved health, economic opportunity and equity. A moderated panel will discuss the International Year of Health and Care Workers, the lived experiences of nurses in 2021, and provide examples of how countries can identify and execute effective investments in their nursing workforce. Anchoring the session is an introduction to the global initiative to engage countries on common and core commitments to the health workforce through a global care compact for health and care workers. This interactive session will include a Q&A period and questions posed to the audience. Come with your stories and best practice examples to share within the chat.

Language: English

Today, people all around the world seek Advanced Practice Nurses (APNs) for much of their healthcare needs. APNs in many countries are accepted by both healthcare consumers and most other care providers as a critical component of a modern health care system. For many years, APNs have provided a vast amount of services in both acute, chronic and community settings, making their presence in the health care system essential. Furthermore, expectations are that APNs will become even more crucial to health care delivery as the need to access quality and affordable care grows. This symposium discusses the optimal future of APN and how we get there.

Language: English

Countless images of nurses have been captured on camera, but what do they tell us about nursing's past? In a panel presentation with a brief discussion period, historic photographs of nurses at various periods in history and from a range of social and national contexts will be examined in order to show how the analysis and interpretation of an image may help us gain a deeper understanding of nurses' critical role in maintaining people's health. The session will demonstrate how photographs can be used as an intriguing educational strategy to teach nursing history, applying multiple analytic lenses, including gender, race, religion, nationality and place. The panellists will pose some critical questions about identification and selection of photographs of nursing's past and share a compelling approach to teaching nursing history that can be taken up in a wide range of educational programmes or workshops around the world.

Language: English

The Girl Child Education Fund (GCEF) m the signature initiative of the ICN’s Florence Nightingale International Foundation, supports the primary and secondary schooling of girls under the age of 18 in Eswatini, Kenya, Uganda and Zambia, whose nurse parent or parents have died.  ICN works in partnerships with its national nurses associations in these countries to administer the Fund on the ground.  In this session, our four NNAs will present their work, experiences and testimonials to raise awareness of the continuing need to support the daughters of their nursing colleagues by donating to the GCEF.

Language: English

This live session will highlight the revised ICN Code of Ethics for Nurses to guide ethical conduct. A case study approach highlighting the four principal elements will be embedded to support translation into practice realities. National Nursing Associations can share how they are using, applying, adopting or modifying the code of ethics in their regions.

Languages: English, French, Spanish

According to a 2020 WHO survey, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted or halted critical mental health services in 93% of countries worldwide. Along with the chronic underfunding of mental health services prior to the pandemic, this is leading to the perfect storm. Focusing on the work of nurses in protecting, promoting and managing mental health, this session looks at mental health conditions caused by the pandemic including the effects of bereavement, isolation, loss of income and fear; increased levels of alcohol and drug use, insomnia, and anxiety; and neurological and mental complications caused by the virus itself.  

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Nurses account for more than half of all the world’s health workers, providing vital services throughout the health system. Historically, as well as today, nurses are at the forefront of fighting epidemics and pandemics that threaten health across the globe. Around the world they are demonstrating their compassion, bravery and courage as they respond to the COVID-19 pandemic: never before has their value been more clearly demonstrated. This session will focus on priorities for investment in health, highlighting the nursing contribution and demonstrating that investment in the nursing profession is a benefit to society, not a cost.

Languages: English, French, Spanish

With many hospitals at saturation point and the health workforce under increased pressure, many nurses stepped directly onto the frontlines of the COVID-19 response or shifted to fill other voids the pandemic has created.  At the regulatory level this has necessitated flexibility and innovation and the removal of long-time barriers on both the modes and the scope of practice for nurses. In addition, regulatory changes have been made to rapidly increase the number of nurses practising to meet the demands on the health system. This session focuses on the issues affecting nursing regulatory systems during COVID, what lessons we have learned and how we can identify positive actions for future regulatory reform.

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Languages: English, French, Spanish, Korean

The COVID-19 pandemic affected all areas of society and underlined the need for all sectors to work together: health, education, employment, industry, etc.  While the World Health Organization played the lead role in preparedness and response to the pandemic, the United Nations agencies and other global institutions, including the G7 and G20, must collaborate to build a better future for global health. Former UN General Secretary, Mr Ban Ki-moon will help us understand the role of the United Nations and other global institutions in strengthening health systems worldwide.

Languages: English, French, Spanish

The contribution of nurses to the COVID‐19 response has received intense media attention with a public outpouring of appreciation and gratitude for nurses and nursing around the world. The pandemic has also brought into sharp focus some of the realities and challenges facing the modern‐day nursing workforce. This session aims to move the public discourse on nursing forward, presenting a new narrative for nursing that will ultimately result in a future where nurses are no longer side‐lined but take their rightful place at the highest policy and decision-making tables.

Languages: English, French, Spanish

The COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing measures have forced academic staff and students into unfamiliar terrain. The challenges of managing such rapid changes in education have been influenced by prevailing attitudes towards e-learning and pedagogy, existing IT infrastructure, availability of technical support for training, digital literacy and redeployment of clinical staff. Likewise, students have been compelled to adapt to the shift to on-line learning. Rapid change has also occurred within practice learning with more than 85% of clinical placements disrupted due to the pandemic. This session focuses on the disruptions in education and the opportunities to capitalise on the transformation of education caused by the crisis.

Languages: English, French, Spanish

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected older people disproportionately, especially those living in long-term care facilities. In many countries, evidence shows that more than 40% of COVID-19 related deaths have been linked to long-term care facilities, with figures being as high as 80% in some high-income countries. 

Languages: English, French, Spanish

This session will discuss how the challenges that nurses face in their daily practice as well as in emergency situations affect safety of their patients and the possible ways to avoid harm in health care. The session will elaborate on a wide range of challenges, including staff physical safety and safe working environment, staff workload and mental health, leadership and safety culture, teamwork and communication as well as patients’ engagement.

Language: English

Providing evidence to policies is one of the goals of the global Nursing Now campaign, and the importance of evidence has been recognised all over the world. In Japan, the Government is also promoting evidence-based policies, and the presentation of evidence will be essential in advancement of nursing policies in the future. In this context, 30 Japanese nursing organisations agreed on the “Nursing Now Nippon Declaration”, in which they announced their commitment to engage in policymaking and accumulating evidence. In this symposium, nursing experts will share their insights and efforts in policymaking from different perspectives, as a government officer implementing nursing policy, an educator/researcher, and a professional association executive taking leadership in nursing policy.

Language: English

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for very timely decision-making that frequently cannot wait for evidence from research and must rely to a great extent on practice-based evidence. This reality demands the availability of accurate and relevant data and a nursing workforce that has the skill set to make full use of the resulting information. The use of a common language, such as the International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP), is a prerequisite for effective and accurate data capture and sharing. Through its use, nurses can articulate the unique contribution made by the profession and make visible the specific role of nursing in the health improvement of citizens. ICN’s ICNP R&D Centres have taken a range of approaches to documenting nursing practice using ICNP as a common language, thereby supporting thousands of nurses around the world in their quest for useful and exchangeable information. This session will showcase a selection of these successes and include an interactive discussion with the audience about the exposed contents.

Language: English

This session will introduce the function of the Taiwan Nurses Association’s Center for Excellence (CE) and how its three sub-committees of Leadership Program Group, Knowledge Translation Group, and Innovative Nursing Research and Policy Group work together to accomplish the CE missions, including helping cross-border leadership programmes for future nurse leaders, leading the development of top-down approach of evidence-based healthcare and strengthening the public-private partnership for better nursing related policy and to support the development of TWNA at large. The objective is to collect constructive suggestions for strengthening the function of TWNA CE; and increase exchange and interaction among NNAs and the interests to help advance the development of regional or global nursing profession.

Language: English

The session will be hosted twice to cover as many as time-zones as possible. 
ICN’s Global Nursing Leadership Institute (GNLI)™ aims to develop the policy leadership knowledge and skills of nurse leaders across the world, particularly in countries represented by the NNA members of ICN. The GNLI Alumni Network consists of scholars who have successfully completed the programme. ICN seeks to tap into this cadre of global nurse leaders in policy, in which it has invested significantly, to address all four of its strategic goals: global impact, membership empowerment, innovative growth, and strategic leadership.

Language: English

The Abu Dhabi Health Information Exchange (HIE), Malaffi, is currently being used by over 20,000 nurses across the Emirate. In this presentation, two nurses living and working in Abu Dhabi will present how they have been integral in ensuring the clinical relevance during implementation of Malaffi. The session will also show specific use cases where having access to a unified patient record has helped nurses in their clinical practice, showcase the patient safety benefits and how Malaffi has been used during the COVID-19 pandemic. It will demonstrate how patient information is viewed in Malaffi and how it easily summarises information recorded at different hospital and clinic across Abu Dhabi.

Language: English

This symposium will explore the maturity model for digital transformation in healthcare settings from the perspective of clinicians. The move towards fully embracing digital transformation has been gradual compared to other industries and may be rightly so. The caregiving element of the nursing profession requires very different considerations to take advantage of technology. The enabling potential of informatics is also being blamed for hampering the human factor in the caregiving process. The session ends with some recommendations for clinicians shared over the years by experienced nursing colleagues.

Languages: English, French, Spanish

The State of the World’s Nursing report showed a global stock of almost 28 million nursing personnel, comprising both the public and private sectors, but this figure masks deep variations within and across regions. The Americas Region, for example, has almost 10 times more nurses than the African Region, with 83.4 and 8.7 nurses per 10 000 population, respectively. Nurse shortage in Africa derives from many causes, including past investment shortfalls in pre-service training, international migration, career changes, premature retirement, morbidity and premature mortality. To attain healthcare for all and to strengthen health systems in the African Region, the current nursing workforce would need to be scaled up substantially. This session will look at the key issues related to the development of the nursing workforce, building competencies for nurses, and the necessary steps to optimise the nursing workforce to meet population health needs.

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Nurses are taking their seat at the highest decision-making tables around the world.  How can these nurse leaders transform public health and the health workforce to ensure it is fit for the future?  Answering this question and more are two nurse leaders who serve their respective governments, the United States and the Seychelles.

Language: English

With nurse migration trends likely to be turbocharged by the COVID‐19 pandemic, nurse leaders and policy members have an opportunity to shape a course that ensures sustainable nurse workforces across countries that advances fair and transparent recruitment. In the previous decade, nurse migration shifted and expanded. There were significant increases in overall numbers and a growing diversity of migration patterns; while traditionally most nurses went from a handful of source countries to a select number of developed economies, more source and destination countries participate and new migration patterns including stopover and circular migration. While the pandemic temporarily froze migration, the implication of global nursing workforce shortages will likely be an acceleration of the trends over the last decade. The emphasis on ethical recruitment—at the international, national, and private sector levels—must be a critical consideration to maximize the benefits and minimize the harms of this coming tsunami of migration.

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Gender inequalities are deeply embedded into health and social systems, compromising their strength and quality and leading to a failure to meet the needs of populations around the world. For the nursing profession, gender bias has led to chronic undervaluing and underinvestment and the full potential of nurses not being used. Yet we know that gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls  contributes to the health and productivity of families, communities and countries. The session will explore and promote gender equality and a rights-based approach to health that enhances participation, builds resilience and empowers communities.

Language: English

Five billion people lack access to surgical and anesthesia care when needed. As a result, over 17 million preventable deaths occur each year, and 28–32% of the global burden of disease can be attributed to surgically treatable conditions. There is an imperative to provide access to safe, timely and affordable surgical and anesthetic services as part of UHC to achieve equity in global health systems.  This symposium, attendees will provide a global perspective of Nurse Anesthetists, describing their roles and responsibilities and the changes to the role as a result of COVID.

Language: English

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the essential role of nurses in preventing the spread of the virus and providing care to those infected. Anecdotal observations suggest that nurses have been used more often in health news stories since the pandemic began, but these stories often focus on the emotional component of caring for patients with COVID-19, rather than nurses as experts on preventing COVID-19, public health measures to reduce the spread of the virus, and evidence-based care of patients with COVID-19. This symposium will address how national nursing associations (NNAs) can seize the moment of nurses’ heightened visibility during the pandemic and develop a strategic communications plan to ensure that nurses are viewed as experts on health and healthcare after the pandemic subsides. It will include reports on nurses’ representation in news media before and during the pandemic in the United States, Spain, Chile and Portugal; what is known about the role of NNAs in media’s use of nurses as sources; and key strategies that NNAs can develop to enhance their members’ visibility. It will conclude with a discussion of forming a NNA Learning Community on Strategic Communications.

Language: English

This session will be hosted twice to cover as many time zones as possible.  ICN’s Global Nursing Leadership Institute (GNLI)™ aims to develop the policy leadership knowledge and skills of nurse leaders across the world, particularly in countries represented by NNA members of ICN.  The GNLI™ Alumni Network consists of scholars who have successfully completed the programme.  ICN seeks to tap into this cadre of global nurse leaders in policy, in which it has invested significantly, to address all four of its strategic goals: global impact, membership empowerment, innovative growth and strategic leadership.

Language: English

The pandemic has had a significant impact to the global economies and has changed the way we live and work and how we interact with each other. The increase in demand in healthcare services also has stretched healthcare systems to the limit. Driven by a global urgency, vaccines for COVID-19 are being rapidly developed, approved and administered worldwide. In combination with other public health measures, COVID-19 vaccination is a critical response to ending the pandemic. The meeting session will discuss the role of nurses in the roll out of COVID-19 vaccination programmes and showcase country examples to involve nurses in increasing vaccine uptake. The speakers in this session will also shed some light on the challenges and solutions in implementing the COVID-19 vaccination programmes

Language: English

Languages: English, French, Spanish

It is human to yearn for a return to “normal.” Yet sometimes following any disruptive event, a return to normal becomes impossible. What typically emerges from these events is a new normal that is based on what we have learned from that disruption. Today, perhaps more than ever, healthcare is a key item on the global agenda. Government policy makers, health professionals, scientists, industrial and civic leaders, patient advocates, and private citizens across the social spectrum are focusing on how best to obtain a high-quality health system that is efficient and affordable in its operation and that functions well for everyone. This session will look at the key issues and the possibilities of creating a better health system to care for the needs of all peoples.

Language: English

Ghana has three entry levels of training: certificate ((auxiliary), diploma and degree.  However, data from government payroll of March 2021 revealed that there are about three times as many certificate (47,539) and diploma (45,063) holders than degree (15,111) holders. How do we enhance the contribution of nursing and midwifery to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and Universal Health Coverage and at the same time position our professions to attain a massive acceleration of nursing education, create new jobs and strengthen leadership? The symposium will highlight nursing and midwifery education in Ghana and the urgent need to change the module of training for nurses and midwives to address the gaps that exist. The objective is to draw attention to the need to focus on diploma and degree as entry levels while building the capacity of the Ghana College of Nurses and Midwives to train more specialist nurses. 

Language: English

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the level of violence in healthcare continues to be alarming. According to the Safeguarding Healthcare in Conflict Coalition, more than 1000 attacks and threats against health workers, facilities and transport were recorded around the world in 2020. Strategies to prevent violence in healthcare focus on illuminating the issue and addressing it from the perpetrators’ perspective, but it is important to also emphasize the powerful role of nurses, and other healthcare workers, in preserving and protecting healthcare. This symposium will address these initiatives, engage nurses in this discussion, and highlight the unique voice, leadership and advocacy role of nurses, especially how such voices can be amplified and empowered in promoting protection of healthcare from the community to the policymaker and national level. 

Langue: English

Languages: English, French, Spanis

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Languages: English, French, Spanish

The Western Pacific Region is home to one quarter of the world’s population. Countries in the region reflect a range of cultural, social, religious and political diversity. Despite this diversity, the region is experiencing some common epidemiological, socioeconomic and demographic trends. These include population ageing and mobility, rapid urbanization, persistent inequities despite rapid economic growth, infectious disease control, the rise of noncommunicable diseases and increased environmental threats. The evolving nature of the challenges requires new ways of working. This session will examine the essential role of nurses and how they are working to address critical health challenges in the Western Pacific.

Language: English

The symposium by CGFNS International will provide a snapshot assessment of how the Covid‐19 pandemic is impacting on the global nursing workforce, with a specific focus on the critical issue of nurse retention. The aim is to inform the policy debate on how health systems, and countries should respond to the vital issue of retaining nurses who face heavy workload, burnout and major impacts to their health and wellbeing because of the pandemic. It is recognised that the retention of the nursing workforce must be a policy priority, in order to support nurse wellbeing and workforce sustainability, and to enable improvements to health system responsiveness and resilience. The session will be informed by an overview of recent analysis and data, counterpointed by the reported experience of key nurse leaders and stakeholders in different countries.

Languages: English, French

ICN entered into official relations with the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1948. Today, ICN continues to work closely with WHO to improve nursing’s contribution to global public health. In this plenary session, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization and Elizabeth Iro, WHO Chief Nursing Officer, will join us live from the ICN studio in Geneva. Dr Tedros will speak about global health challenges and nurses’ contribution the global health agenda. He will also have a conversation with five frontline nurses in different countries.

Languages: English, French, Spanish

In this plenary speech, Guy Ryder, Director General of the International Labour Organisation, will address the challenges of COVID-19 for the nursing workforce, the importance of the ILO Nursing Personnel Convention, and the ILO’s ‘Global call to action for a human-centred recovery from the COVID-19 crisis’.  He will discuss the importance of investing in the nursing workforce to address workforce shortage, and address ways in which we can work together to ensure decent work and health systems’ resilience.

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Strengthening health workforce and building robust health systems are key priorities in the South-East Asia Region which is prone to natural disasters, disease outbreaks and health risks of climate change. Nurses are the backbone of health systems and have a crucial role in strengthening emergency preparedness and public health for sustainable development. Nurses are also central to quality health services for all, preventing illness, promoting health throughout the life-course, caring for mothers, newborns and children, providing life-saving immunisations, health advice, and caring for the elderly. Efforts must be redoubled to ensure the nursing workforce has the strength, skills and support to meet all people’s health needs. This session will look at the key issues related to the development of the nursing workforce,  building nursing competencies and creating a better health system to care for the needs of all peoples.

Language: English

Access to palliative care is a basic human right, yet many people across the world are denied such services and experience unnecessary physical, emotional, sociocultural and spiritual distress as a result. The holistic approach inherent within nursing means that nursing services are vital to the provision of palliative care. This symposium will address the challenge of achieving quality palliative care; review existing data on the state of palliative care; highlight the development of palliative care services and reasons for existing disparities; and provide a critical analysis of actions to support nurses to optimise their contribution to palliative care. 

Language: English

The EBMT Nurses Group (NG) was created 36 years ago and has over 750 members in more than 60 countries worldwide with a principal nurse in almost each EBMT registered centre. Our mission is to enhance and value the nurses’ role around the world, supporting and sharing knowledge through communication, advocacy, research, training and education. The group is dedicated to improving the care of BMT and cell therapy recipients and promotes excellence in care by recognizing, building upon and providing evidence-based practice.

Language: English

We are pleased to offer participants the opportunity to meet and engage with ICN staff. The ICN nursing team have unique insights into the issues and trends shaping health and health systems around the world. During this session, ICN nurses will share stories and insights that are shaping global health today and tomorrow. 

Language: English

Network Consortium meeting of ICN-Accredited ICNP R&D Centres open to public.

Language: English

This session will explore the themes and outcomes of WISH’s most recent published report, Nurses for Health Equity: Tackling the Social Determinants of Health. The report provides clinician-level, national and international guidelines across six key domains that need our collective attention and investment: Education and Training; Monitoring and Evaluation; Working with Individuals and Communities; The Role of Healthcare Organizations as Employers, Managers, and Commissioners; Working in Partnership: Within the Health Sector and Beyond; and Nurses as Advocates.

Languages: English, French, Spanish

A report by the WHO Independent High-Level Commission on Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) stated that NCDs and mental disorders currently pose one of the biggest threats to health and development globally,particularly in the developing world. Failure to implement proven  interventions is rapidly increasing health care costs, and continued lack of investment in action against NCDs will have enormous health, economic, and societal consequences in all countries. This session explores nursing’s role in tackling many of today’s major health and social challenges including communicable and non-communicable diseases. It will highlight that healthcare is not simply acute care focused, not just for repair, but also plays a major role in ‘creating health’ and dealing with many of the underlying causes of poor health.

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Nurses face ethical dilemmas on a daily basis. While the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the difficulties nurses face, disasters, conflict and political divisions all increase the pressures confronting nurses.  This session will provide an analysis of key ethical issues and recommendations for the future of nursing ethics and look at the ethics of protecting patients and nurses and the rights to health, rights to just and favourable conditions of work, and rights to life.

Languages: English, French, Spanish

The State of the World’s Nursing report highlighted the global shortage of six million nurses, with 89% of the shortage in low and lower-middle income countries.  ICN’s report Ageing Well? Policies to Support Older Nurses at Work adds another 4.7 million nurses who are expecting to retire by 2030. And ICN has also warned that the COVID Effect could potentially cause a shortfall of 14 million nurses by 2030. This session will discuss the findings of these reports, the issues of ethical recruitment, and migration and other key factors needed to support countries to make the maximum use of their current health workforce—and forecast needs for a health workforce that can meet future health challenges.

Languages: English, French, Spanish

The coronavirus pandemic has transformed the nursing field, and many advocates view the present as a make-or-break moment to press for more lasting change. Nurses represent the largest component of the health workforce globally and demands for their skills is at a peak. Nurses are educated, experienced, and highly trusted. Its time to empower nurses to practice to the top of their licence and recognise them as experts. This session will demonstrate the best of what nursing has to offer and provide clear strategies to support and promote nurses to practice to the level the health system and community needs.

Language: English, French, Spanish

The World Health Assembly’s newly approved Global Strategic Directions for Nursing and Midwifery, 2021-2025, calls for “strengthening nursing and midwifery leadership throughout health and academic systems.” ICN has been in the forefront of advance nursing leadership and health worldwide through two programmes: Leadership For Change (LFC) that aims to prepare nurses with the  leadership skills that are required to implement organisational change for the purpose of improving nursing practice and achieving better health outcomes; and the Global Nursing Leadership Institute (GNLI), a strategic policy leadership programme that focuses on strengthening nurse leaders’ political and policy understanding and influence. The Programme Directors will present the aims of each programme, approaches, outcomes and changes wrought by the pandemic. Former participants in each programme will share their experiences and the impact on themselves, nursing and health. Funding and guidance on applying for these programmes are discussed. The session concludes with a discussion on how these programmes might augment nursing leadership development in-country, regionally and globally.

Language: English

The session will explore how nurses in the WHO European Region have been managing the COVID-19 vaccination roll out and how they can leverage their influence to build vaccine confidence among the population during the pandemic. The session will provide an overview of what sorts of leadership opportunities have been assumed by nurses across the WHO/Europe Region and facilitate an in-depth conversation with representatives from two countries in the WHO/Europe Region. Before opening the discussion to participants to share their experiences WHO/Europe will present two tools that have been developed to support nurses in communicating with patients and other health workers about COVID-19 vaccination. 

Languages: English

This session will bring together partners involved in the Nursing Now groups to hear  how  groups and organisations are collaborating to push for progress on the priorities from the WHO Strategic Directions for Nursing and Midwifery (2021-25) in their country as part of the Nursing Now legacy. They will have the chance to share  opportunities and challenges. Participants will also hear about how they can support monitoring and implementation of the strategy at WHO regional and global level.

Languages: English, French, Spanish

This session provides insight into the use of healthcare data, including an overview of best practices and the practical realities of obtaining useful information from digital health systems. Participants will gain an understanding current healthcare delivery contexts, and future and emerging digital health data systems and applications that are rapidly becoming tomorrow’s reality.

Languages: English, French, Spanish

The outbreak of COVID-19 overwhelmed global and national healthcare systems and severely compromised the well-being of frontline healthcare professionals. Nurses and other healthcare workers around the world face enormous pressure at work, and the pandemic continues to take a heavy toll on the physical and mental wellbeing of front-line healthcare providers. This session focuses on practical solutions to protect, promote and support the health of nurses.

Languages: English, French, Spanish

This session will give a high-level summary of the new Global Strategic Directions for Nursing and Midwifery (SDNM).  The SDNM 2021-2025 comprises 12 policy priorities in the areas of education, jobs, leadership, and service delivery.  Each speaker will give an example of implementing a policy priority from each of the four areas within their country or regional context. The session will conclude with remarks from ICN CEO Howard Catton on how the ICN leadership sees its roles in advancing the SDNM 2021-2025 and how professional associations and unions can drive progress in their countries.  

Language: English

Nurse leaders work in a broad spectrum of healthcare and their roles are no longer limited to performing individual tasks and overseeing the nursing section of healthcare organisations and hospitals. Nurses are highly skilled in health management and their understanding of patient safety and quality of care provide them insights into the implications for finance and the better value for public health investments. The experience and vision of nurse leaders should be best aligned with financial management in driving value and reducing costs in the healthcare system. However, financial management skills are often inadequate in the traditional management training of nurse leaders and insufficient to respond to the increasing demand in healthcare. The symposium will highlight the need to improve nurse leaders’ competency and training in financial management. It will also provide an insight into nursing leadership in health financing and explore the role of nurse leaders in building a resilient and responsive health system through effective financing.

Language: English

Language: English

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Come join us for the official closing of the ICN 2021 Congress, as we pass the baton over to the hosts of our 2023 ICN Congress: the Canadian Nurses Association, bid farewell to the outgoing President, Annette Kennedy, and welcome our new ICN President for 2021-2025!