Strengthening institutional collaboration in nursing – ProInCa Mid-conference
Author
Merja Kalima
JAMK University of Applied Sciences, Finland
On 23-24 May, 2019, ProInCa partners and representatives from the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republican Center for Health Development, regional health organizations, university clinics, national and regional nursing associations, medical universities, higher medical colleges, medical colleges, as well as nurses and nursing students gathered to discuss the issue of developing nursing education in Kazakhstan.
The 2-day international conference «Development of nursing in Kazakhstan through strengthening institutional collaboration» was hosted by Nazarbayev University School of Medicine, where over 150 people took part in plenary sessions and workshops consisting of presentations from leading Kazakhstani and European experts on topics such as “Evidence-based Nursing”, “Nursing Leadership”, and “Nursing Research”. During the first day of the conference, Director of the Department of Science and Human Resources of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan Saule Sydykova presented an overview of the current situation of nursing in Kazakhstan, in which she emphasized the strategic development plan of the Republic of Kazakhstan until 2025, including its human resource development where nurses are involved. Moreover, as an invited keynote speaker, Professor Brigita Skela Savič from Slovenia represented the International Council of Nurses (ICN) and highlighted how important it is for the Kazakhstani nursing associations to unite and join the ICN.
From left to right. Johanna Heikkilä, Merja Hassinen, Eveliina Kivinen, Sari Järvinen, Wolter Paans, Hannele Tittanen, Jari Hautamäki.
Overall, the main goal of the conference was to provide the participants with opportunities for institutional collaboration in the field of nursing, both nationally and internationally. Participants expect this collaboration to support knowledge sharing between nurses, nurse educators, research and administration; to enhance the integration of the latest evidence into professional nursing practice; to enable launching collaborative national and international nursing research and development projects; to ensure the implementation of the new role “nurse with extended practice” and new nursing roles in management of nursing services; to improve the prestige and public image of nursing profession; and to allow the development of high-quality capacity building programmes. To ensure the realization of these outcomes, conference participants have agreed on ten resolutions, which were recorded in the Conference Resolution ( http://proinca-nursing.kz/resolution.)