Péc is a lovely city in the
Southern part of Hungary. I have been before and was privileged to be
able to spend some time there last week. I had been invited to present a paper at an international nursing conference organised by the University of Péc's. The focus of the conference was Advanced Nursing Practice. We had run such a programme
in my old School for over 10 years and, I had invited my colleague Anabella, the programme director to present her
experience. Unfortunately she was unable to make the trip due to other commitments. So I came,
and I am very glad I did.
There was a real sense of energy
about the conference, an energy that clearly underpinned a determination to
develop and put in place the concept of advanced practice in taking the nursing
profession forward. There were other international speakers there, from the US,
Slovenia, and the Czech Republic. The International Council of Nurses was
represented as was the Hungarian Secretary of State for Health. The presence of the latter was
an unprecedented show of political will and support. The papers delivered on both
days enthusiastically stated the professions' ambitions and assertively
identified the issues and challenges that will need to be dealt with. The
energy and enthusiasm was infectious and I am very confident that progress will
be made.
Many of the issues appeared
universal – a lack of funding; the difficulty in designing a curriculum that reflects the profession of nursing
and its attributes whilst also educating and training in areas usually
associated with medicine; who should teach the students; the poor image of nursing;
and of course medical opposition to the proposed changes. In some ways, it was
an event that very much reflected the discussion I'd been part of at a meeting
in London last Monday. I attended the Nursing and Midwifery Council thought
leaders group looking at the educational preparation for graduate nurses in
2025-30. The discussion was powerful and focused, well that was until
colleagues from one of the big 5 consulting companies came to speak with us about the ongoing educational
framework review.
Now I don't mind naivety in
others, in fact sometimes I think it can be both cathartic and very productive.
I wasn't convinced this was the case with these consultants. I think they were
just naïve. Geraldine Walters, the recently appointed Director of Nursing and
Midwifery Education, Standards and Policy at the NMC joined us and she at least
appeared to have an open mind in terms of what the role of NMC might be in
determining the future shape of nurses education in the UK.
Yesterday as I travelled the 200
km back to Budapest I was able to reflect on the differences and similarities
of both these sets of discussions. There were many. Both nations are politically,
economically and demographically challenged and current models of health care
are unsustainable. Demand for health care exponentially outstrips our capacity
to provide it. The shape and rapidity of change in health services almost out
paces our ability to develop the skilled and knowledgeable workforce required
to provide it. However, I was buoyed up
to see that psychology, and the recognition of the importance of the interpersonal
relationship were being foregrounded in both conversations.
This was something reinforced in my dipping into a book given to me as a gift by my new colleague Aniko.
She has claims to citizenship in Serbia, Hungary and the US, and is currently
working in Ohio improving the quality of care provided by medics and nurses. The book
Complications, by Atual Gawande is written in the style of one of my favourite
authors, the late and great Oliver Sacks, the Poet Laureate of Medicine. Amidst the technology of medical intervention,
the despair of disease, both Gawande and Sacks successfully remind us of the importance of remembering the person who should be central to our work –
the patient, and another human being.
I have to confess, I have not
read an actual book, as in something printed on paper for a number of years. Apparently
1 in 3 people in the UK rarely or never read for
pleasure. But that is not what I am talking about. I meant that these days most of my
reading happens on line, or through my Kindle (other readers are available). Not
that how you read matters when gaining the benefits of reading. In a study published recently
in the journal Social Science and Medicine, Avni Bavishi and colleagues claim
that reading is not simply an indulgent pastime, but a form of life support. Their
paper claims that people who regularly read books tend to be healthier, richer
and better educated in general, all of which could contribute to a longer life (and there is no need to read the small print)!
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