20 INTERNATIONAL
INMO leading and influencing European policy agenda It is crucial that the EFN is strengthened and empowered to influence the EU political agenda, writes Elizabeth Adams
speak with Jeroen Jutte (EC DG Employ- ment) on the EU country reports 2019 and EU semester, which are seen as key tools to implement the European Pillar of Social Rights. Agata Walaszczyk-Terrasse presented on the EC study on Annex V of Directive 2013/55/EU (including on article 31, a set of eight competencies that set out the minimum educational requirements for nurses responsible for general care). EFN members also discussed their con- tribution to three European projects that the EFN is involved in: • QualMent – The ‘Quality Mentorship for Developing Competent Nursing Students’ project is coordinated by the College of Nursing in Celje, Slovenia. The project objective is to address the lack of clin- ical mentors in nursing education and develop clinical mentors’ competence with mentor education for national and international nursing students. The dura- tion of this project is 28 months • InteropEHRate – The ‘Interoperable Elec- tronic Health Record at user edge’ project is coordinated by Engineering Ingegneria Informatica. The project objective is to realise an open, standardised and unique European extended EHR and provide European citizens with a complete view of their health history, shareable with health operators and researchers. This project commenced in January 2019 and is planned to take 42 months • Smart4Health – The Citizen-centred EU-EHR exchange for personalised health project is coordinated by UNINOVA – Instituto de Desenvolvimento de Novas Tecnologias (Portugal). The objective of the project is to develop, test and validate a platform prototype for the Smart4Health citizen-centred health record with integrated ability for data donorship to the scientific community,
The INMO and Ireland were represented at the 109th general assembly of the European Federation of Nurses Associa- tions (EFN) in Brussels on April 11-12 by INMO president Martina Harkin-Kelly and myself Elizabeth Adams. There were more than 100 representatives from 28 member countries across Europe. The EFN, of which the INMO has been a member since its inception, represents more than three mil- lion nurses across 36 European countries. European projects The INMO is central to a number of sig- nificant projects and policy developments due to its membership of the EFN. Issues concerning health, patient care, mobility of healthcare professionals, education, terms and conditions, working environments, technology and health funding continue to be central to the EU debate. These debates result in legislation that all member states are obliged to implement. It is imperative that the EFN is strength- ened and empowered to influence the EU political agenda, particularly in the current economic climate. Member associations share information regarding the effects of the economic crisis on healthcare. This exchange of information is essential to the strategic policy and lobbying activities of the EFN in portraying the difficulties facing nurses in providing a safe and quality ser- vice as well as highlighting the inequalities of citizens in regard to nursing services in the EU. At the general assembly, EFN mem- bers had the opportunity to analyse the key political topics that are driving the EU agenda and discuss the nursing con- tribution, in addition to their impact on the nursing profession and the citizens of Europe. They had the opportunity to liaise and share views with Agata Walaszczyk-Terrasse (EC DG GROW) on nursing skills. They also had a chance to
enabling citizens to manage, collect, access and share their own health data. The duration of the project is 50 months from January 2019. Policy to practice The EFN general assembly believes that nurses working to their full scope of prac- tice and evolving advanced roles are crucial in empowering patients and implement- ing meaningful value-based healthcare systems. The close relationship of nurses with patients is fundamental to ensuring that what is developed in policy is delivered appropriately in practice. Therefore, the EU and national governments need to con- cretely engage the nursing leaders in the co-design of the health and social care sys- tems in the EU. EFN members are committed to and fully engaged with making a difference to the current EU policy agenda. They are working relentlessly to ensure that the contribution of three million nurses is valued and the potential of the nursing profession is maximised to positively bene- fit patients and health systems. Elizabeth Adams is president of the European Federation of Nurses and former INMO director of education Elizabeth Adams and Martina Harkin-Kelly pictured at the EFN general assembly in Brussels
Powered by FlippingBook