As always, it is my extreme pleasure to represent you and ENA at home and abroad. In June of this year I had the opportunity to attend the International Council of Nurses Conference in Seoul, South Korea—yes, in the height of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak there. What an experience it was to collaborate with more than 7000 nurses in attendance from over 130 countries. Opportunities to network and learn from one other are always amazing, and believe it or not, we all experience the challenges of violence and crowding in our hospitals worldwide. ENA, along with the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE), presented ENA’s violence study and offered toolkits to assist in decreasing violence directed at staff in hospitals and in health care systems.
Key messages presented during this 5-day conference focused on the fact that we are all ambassadors of health care at home and globally. With 7 billion people in our world, and 16 million nurses, the clear message is that we as nurses must stand up, come together, and advocate for our patients and our practice. We are “the spirit of the angels in white.” To maintain global citizenship and health, we all must help in the control and spread of disease such as MERS and Ebola. Diseases do not require travel visas to move from one county to another. Prevention is key to mitigate disease! As nurses and health care providers, we must always practice and teach prevention to minimize future disease outbreaks and to curtail rising health care costs.
Another issue facing health care worldwide is the outward migration of nurses. Nurses certainly have a significant effect on a nation’s health care, but oftentimes they find better living conditions and career opportunities in other countries rather than at home. Much of the discussion at the meeting voiced the opinion that the countries experiencing migration of nurses must improve their health system infrastructure and economic stability to keep nurses at home, which could in turn decrease morbidity and mortality.
In contrast to the global health care outlook at the conference, South Korea exemplifies prevention to the fullest, and we can certainly learn from them and improve our practices here at home. For example, because of their close proximity to North Korea and the ongoing risk of war, a pristine and abundant supply of fire extinguishers are located in all buildings, including hotel lobbies, and in the subway system, to name a few locations. In addition, videos continuously play within the subway system to educate riders about how to use a fire extinguisher, don a smoke rescue mask, and perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation with automated external defibrillator use. Moreover, safety placards are present in all stairwells, escalators, elevators, and subways, predominantly to decrease fall risk.
Overall, we as nurses and health care professionals worldwide must unite, stand up, and advocate for both patients and nurses. Health care issues in one part of the world may certainly affect us in the United States, just as disease or practice issues here may affect patients and nursing practice in other countries. We are all one global health care community and certainly cannot live in silos. Collectively, we must band together and give voice to our concerns through our professional organizations in order to achieve what is best for our patients, nursing, and our global health care communities. Again, it is always my pleasure to represent you, our emergency nurses and constituents. Take care of yourselves and our patients at home and abroad.
Biography
Matthew F. Powers is President of the Emergency Nurses Association.