Nursing Now has five programme areas to enable us to achieve our campaign goal of improving global health by raising the profile and status of nursing worldwide.
Universal Health Coverage
Universal health coverage (UHC) is a human right, and yet at least 400 million people do not have access to essential health services. In order to achieve UHC, it is crucial that governments invest in nursing and enable nurses to achieve their full potential.
UHC relies on nurses. Nurses work closely with communities, they also supervise community health workers and have key strengths in health promotion and prevention.
To support the goal of achieving UHC, Nursing Now will:
- encourage high-level decision makers within governments, the WHO and World Bank to invest more in nursing as a primary means of promoting UHC;
- call for assessments of progress on UHC that properly incorporate the impact of nurses; and
- empower nurses as champions of UHC.
Evidence of impact
In order to influence health policy and service delivery so that nurses are enabled to have an even bigger impact on global health, we will need to present significant evidence of nursing’s contribution to health, economic development and gender equity.
In order to generate evidence to influence policy, Nursing Now will:
- initiate new studies where there are significant gaps in available research;
- work with partners to improve and disseminate evidence;
- promote the role of research to strengthen the impact of nursing; and
- develop global collaborations between researchers.
To date, Nursing Now has collaborated with partners on the following studies:
- Maximising the contribution of nursing to Universal Health Coverage, WISH
- The Gender Assessment of Nursing Leadership report, IntraHealth, Johnson & Johnson, Nursing Now.
- Nursing for women’s empowerment, The Aga Khan University, The Journal of Clinical Nursing
- The role of community nursing in high-income countries, The National University of Singapore
- The economic and social impact of the nursing workforce, Harvard University.
Nursing Now is keen to work with other partners to develop this whole body of research. Contact us about research you think we may be interested in, using: info@nursingnow.global
Leadership and development
The appointment of a Chief Nursing Officer by the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, was an important show of commitment, however, more needs to be done to support nurses as leaders in both policy and practice. It is not enough to elevate nurses to positions of responsibility; they also need to be given the support and training required to take on these roles successfully.
Focused on supporting nurses as leaders in health, Nursing Now will:
- drive and support advocacy efforts to increase the number of nurses in senior roles and increase nursing’s influence on policy and decision making, (see Nightingale Challenge);
- assist Ms Elizabeth Iro in fulfilling her role as WHO Chief Nursing Officer globally; and
- work with the International Council of Nurses and other organisations to strengthen and develop programmes for the most senior nurse leaders, and build a network for nurses who have completed these programmes.
- support nurses at every level to develop their leadership and quality improvement skills and knowledge, so they can lead and manage change – noting that courses are already offered by the Institute for Health improvement (IHI) and NHS School for Change Agents free of charge.
Sharing effective practice
High levels of innovation drive the nursing profession. Nursing Now is committed to publicising the best examples of innovation and effective practice, and will work with the World Health Organization, International Council of Nurses and others to develop better ways of disseminating and improving access to existing collections of effective practice.
We are looking for your examples of how countries, organisations and individuals are developing nursing in innovative ways. To share your story, please contact: info@nursingnow.global
2020 Year of the Nurse and the Midwife
2020 was designated by the WHO as the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife.
This was a once-in-a-generation opportunity to put nurses and midwives at the centre of global and national health policy, and to celebrate what nurses and midwives do to improve health and health care in their communities and across the world. The global pandemic meant that the year proved to be a year like none other and put nursing in the spotlight in a way that could not have been foreseen but much was accomplished during this challenging time.
The launch of the State of the World’s Nursing report in April was a landmark moment; over 180 new Nursing Now groups were created, bringing the total to 729 groups worldwide; over 800 health employers accepted the Nightingale Challenge and pledged to provide leadership development to more than 31,000 early career nurses and midwives. We joined together in many virtual events and webinars which created opportunities for policy dialogue, sharing experience and priorities that can help to shape the future direction of nursing.
Nightingale Challenge
As part of Nursing Now’s work to promote the role of nurses and raise the profile and status of nursing around the world, Nursing Now launched the Nightingale Challenge in June 2019.
The Nursing Now campaign has worked with partners to champion influential leadership roles for nurses and midwives. Being influential leaders means that they will be able to apply their own experiences, as well as evidence and data to stimulate changes in policy and improve health care delivery.
The Nightingale Challenge calls for all employers of nurses and midwives globally to provide development opportunities in influential leadership for young nurses and midwives has inspired nearly 800 health employers worldwide to enable 30,000 young nurses and midwives to build their skills as advocates and influential leaders in healthcare.
June 2021 will mark a new beginning for the Nightingale Challenge as it becomes the “Nursing Now Challenge”, under the continued leadership of Professor Lisa Bayliss-Pratt at Coventry University, in partnership with The Burdett Trust for Nursing.
The Nursing Now Challenge (NNC) will carry forward the ambitious mandate of the Nightingale Challenge and will work with health employers around the world to create leadership development opportunities for 100,000 nurses and midwives in more than 150 countries by the end of 2022.
Find out more about the Nightingale Challenge, here.
