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International Nurses Week 2020: Compassion, Expertise, and Trust

WHO designated 2020 as the Year of the Nurse and Midwife.  Two additional events, National Nurses Week (May 6-12, 2020) and International Nurses Day (May 12, 2020), provide even more opportunity to recognize the nurses working at the front lines, and how this important group of professionals hold the key to shaping the future of healthcare.

The role of nurses in our modern society

International Nurses Day, held annually on May 12th, corresponds to the birthday of Florence Nightingale (1820-1910). Nightingale, also known as the “Lady with the Lamp,” was a British nurse, founder of what is known today as modern nursing.

International Nurses day celebrates the important role nurses play in our society. This year, WHO decided to focus the celebration around 3 main themes: compassion, expertise, and trust.

Nurses are often the first point of care, the ones present at the front line with the patients and connecting the dots with physicians and healthcare specialists.  They are a key component to providing healthcare to communities around the world.  According to the World Health Organization, the world needs 9 million more nurses and midwives to achieve universal health coverage by 2030.

We had the pleasure to host amazing nurses on our podcast. Here are some highlights of the activities they are carrying out that truly reflects the topics of compassion, expertise, and trust of this year:

Rebecca Love and her endeavors to provide PPE

Nurses all over the world are working non stop to tackle the current COVID-19 pandemic. ICU beds, medical ventilators and the shortage of healthcare professionals are not the only problems healthcare systems are facing. Personal protective equipment (PPEs) are in high demand in many countries.

Rebecca Love and her team, through their organization SONSIEL, took action by coordinating delivery and donations of masks and other equipment.  The GoFundMe campaign they set up is still active to keep helping healthcare professionals across the US. In partnership with Springer Publishing, SONSIEL also recently published a book, the Rebel Nurse Handbook, sharing the inspiring stories of 40 nurses leaders, innovators, and entrepreneurs across the world.

Tune in to our episode with Rebecca Love to find out more.

Shawna Butler on the need of more EntrepreNURSEs

Shawna is a thought leader in the use of technology to solve health needs. Both an economist and a nurse, Shawna coined the term ‘EntrepreNURSE, ‘one who is restlessly curious, questions the status quo, and embraces new ideas, not only when there are problems, but also when things are going well’.

When Shawna featured in our podcast she highlighted the importance of nurses to fill the gaps in care, and why they are ideally positioned to do so.  Nurses are indeed at the bedside of the patients for a lot of time, therefore they develop an in-depth understanding of their needs. Nurses play an important role in fostering innovation and are key to developing new solutions that can support people in preventive and disease management care.

Tune in to Shawna’s episode.

Molly McCarthy: Nurses in digital health

Molly is the National Director, US Health, and Chief Nursing Officer for Microsoft. As a nurse herself, Molly recalled that for 18 years in a row nurses have been the most trusted professionals. This is definitely not by chance.

Nurses have a true relationship with patients, at a special moment of their life.  This is even more true this year with so many patients alone at the hospital, when no visits from their families are possible.  This is precisely why, when developing a new health innovation, the input of nurses is critical given the insights they have on the current care.

Tune in to Molly’s episode to find out more.

Anna Sort on gamification as a key element in designing health and wellness digital products

Anna Sort is a nurse, professor and entrepreneur.  Her passion for video games, combined with her deep understanding and experience in providing care, led her to develop a game module to create an educational experience in healthcare.  After this experience, Anna recognized that there are a lot of untapped opportunities to use behavior change theories to inspire a gamification experience in health care.

Tune in to Anna’s episode to learn me about gamification in healthcare.

From the entire Digital Health Today community, we salute all the nurses that are committed to save lives on the front lines every day!  We will keep honoring you and sharing the amazing work that you are doing. Your sacrifice and contribution to health care systems is crucial, and most of the digital health solutions that exist today would not be possible without your invaluable insights.

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