The
3rd International Nursing Conference of Al Noor concluded successfully yesterday
at the Sheraton Abu Dhabi Hotel & Resort.
The
one-day conference, which was held in collaboration with the University of
Bradford, saw the attendance of more than 550 nursing professionals including,
Directors of Nursing, Midwives, Registered and Specialized Nurses, Nursing
Assistants, Practical Nurses, Vocational Nurses and Nursing students.
Following
the success of the previous two conferences and the overwhelming feedback from
the attendees, a third edition was launched this year with the theme ‘Optimizing
Patient Care’. The conference delivered 5 sessions during which 12 lectures
were presented by various notable speakers from across the UAE and from abroad.
Rajaa
Hammoud, Chief Nursing Officer of Al Noor Hospitals Group said in her opening remarks
to the attendees: "Our profession is a career of compassion and it is
important that we help our nurses deliver and maintain optimal level of care.
The recipe is to utilise their skills wisely, compensate them fairly, empower
them and address their concerns. The ingredients are to have enough qualified
nurses and to encourage and secure innovation and change. It is also important
to ensure that they have access to continuing education in order to maintain
their professional competence in their practice."
Following
the opening remarks, Hammoud gave a presentation titled ‘Unlocking the Power of
Nursing Innovation’. In her presentation she spoke about how healthcare
organizations must pave the way for nurses to showcase their innovation by
empowering them and promoting a culture that values their ideas and
observations. Hammoud stressed on the fact that nurses need to be given the
opportunity to voice their ideas and suggestions since they are at the
forefront in caring for patients.
Speakers
from the University of Bradford, in the United Kingdom, spoke about how it is
important for nurses to possess clinical leadership, evidence based knowledge
and clinical competence in order to practice in a high quality and safe
environment through four different presentations.
One
of the presentations given by the University of Bradford titled ‘Detecting
Early Deterioration of Acutely Ill Adult Patients in Hospital’ highlighted how
recognising deterioration in patients is vital in order to act quickly and
appropriately to benefit the patient. It is therefore important to promote the
nursing role in detecting and effectively communicating deterioration in
patients to prevent serious consequences.
"Our
aim as educators is to produce high quality, thinking, safe practitioners who
are inspirational leaders that will lead Health Care Organizations into the
future" said Andrea Cassidy, Senior Lecturer/Programme Director, Faculty
of Health Studies, University of Bradford.
Professor
Jane Griffiths from the Dubai Health Authority spoke about the right process of
implementing an electronic medical record system in a healthcare organization
and highlighted how it is essential that all staff members recognize that this
is not solely an IT project, instead, the clinical and operational staff must
fully "own" the process. The most important aspect of these
implementations is the process re-engineering component. Professor Griffiths
also stressed on the fact that the IT solution must only be implemented when
evidence based policies, procedures, guidelines and pathways that meet
international standards are fully in place.
Helen
Spyt, Operating Theatre Charge Nurse, Sheikh Khalifa General Hospital, Umm Al
Quwain, spoke about identifying and understanding the deteriorating elderly
patient with the view to supporting and delivering optimal outcomes. During her
presentation she spoke about the importance of knowing the patient, identifying
changes early, documenting and communicating them and involving patients and
their respective relatives and care givers.
Elizabeth
Makaulay Sojka, Director of Nursing at Al Noor Hospital Al Ain Branch gave a
lecture during the one-day conference on leadership and change. During her
presentation Sojka spoke about the dramatic revolution in nursing practice from
nurses with clipboards who manually checked statistics to technology monitoring
patient conditions that helps in making decisions at bedside.
Today,
nursing leaders have to deal with people from multiple generations therefore
they need to identify ways to understand the differences in attitudes, values
and behaviors of each of the generational groups in order to exploit these
differences, which will in turn enhance the work of the entire team. –End-
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