New Nursing web site

Dear Nursing Colleague

I am writing to invite you to become a VIP member of a new website I

Aiming to launch on 1 July



It is called ‘Community Nurses Network’ and, under the slogan of

‘Harnessing the knowledge of nurses outside hospital settings’, my aim

is to provide a forum for both learning and mutual support. What I

have said in the introduction to the site is "Nurses who work in

hospitals have easy access to a large number of people who share

experiences, but if you are working in the community that has been

really hard". Clearly, there are hundreds of thousands, if not

millions, of our colleagues in this position, and I want to develop

this site to be of real value to them.



One of the member's benefits will be to read blogs or articles from

experts. (i.e. You!) In return for your input, I am happy to offer you

a lifelong VIP membership, with full access to the site's facilities,

free of charge. This will be a great profile-building opportunity and,

if you have a book or other nursing-related materials to promote, you



If you visit the site now, you will see it is thin and still

very much under construction, but you can sign up for your VIP account

- see instructions below.



In fact, please sign up before July 2- even if you cannot commit to

writing something before that - because we will have to remove the VIP

signup before the public launch. Although, of course would be great if

you could read and get something going on the site before we launch it.



The web address is http://www.communitynursesnetwork.com/



I look forward to meeting up with you on site, perhaps in one of the

chat rooms! Any comments, feedback and suggestions about the site

before the launch can be sent to both me and my colleague who is

administering the site, Steve Hards (email

steve.hards@communitynurses.com or admin@communitynurses.com





Bob Pyke Jr., RN, NP

repyke@communitynurses.com



VIP Account Sign Up Instructions



To sign up for your VIP account, visit the site:



http://www.communitynursesnetwork.com/



and just follow a link to join up, create your profile, then email my

Colleague Steve Hards at

steve.hards@communitynursesnetwork.com



He will upgrade you to the VIP membership and send you some pointers on

Setting up your profile or adding a blog or article, etc.

Social Life of Health Information

Social Life of Health Information
http://bit.ly/bzMeo

Telemedicine Key to Health Care Reform

Btw, I belive Canada provides for telehealth in their EHR, if I am not mistaken?
In a new white paper, several U.S. medical experts argue that telemedicine should be incorporated into health reform efforts. They say that telemedicine can help boost access to care, contain rising costs and improve health care quality. United Press International.
http://www.ihealthbeat.org/Articles/2009/6/23/Medical-Experts-Say-Telemedicine-Key-to-Health-Care-Reform.aspx
White Paper http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/tmj.2009.9960?cookieSet=\

A systematic review of the use of telehealth in Asian countries

This came off of Facebook, but it did get my attention,
A systematic review of the use of telehealth in Asian countries
http://articles.icmcc.org/2009/06/22/a-systematic-review-of-the-use-of-telehealth-in-asian-countries

Telemedicine to Transform European Healthcare

European healthcare is threatened by soaring costs and limited resources.
Market tests demonstrating that telemedical services can cut costs and
improve treatment are now being implemented across the continent. If you are
injured in a car crash or suspect you are having a stroke, quick diagnosis
and treatment by top specialists could be critical to the outcome. Wouldn't
it be great if you could get that state-of-the-art care wherever you are,
without having to be rushed to a clinic able to handle the case?
This is what the physicians and healthcare administrators of HEALTH OPTIMUM,
an EU- funded initial deployment project, thought when they accepted the
challenge of using IT to enhance healthcare across Europe, while helping to
contain out-of-control costs.
http://www.healthoptimum.info/

U.S. Diplomatic Efforts Get Tech Support

I run my wifes politcal campaign, but I saw this and I thought it deserves mention?

I don't believe tech is an end into itself to solve problems, but it can be a critical part of the solution." - Alec Ross, new senior adviser on innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

(WashingtonPost) Diplomatic Efforts Get Tech Support

ICN Telenursing Network

Geneva, Switzerland, 1 April 2009 –
The International Council of Nurses (ICN) is pleased to announce the launch of the ICN Telenursing Network today during a keynote address at the Med-e-Tel Conference in Luxembourg.

Members of the new ICN Telenursing Network will collaborate with the International Society for Telemedicine and eHealth (ISfTeH) Telenursing Working Group, and other professional and industry organisations, to advance the use of telehealth technologies among nurses worldwide. An ICN Telenursing Network Advisory Group, composed of telenursing representatives from different parts of the world, will provide leadership and direction for the work of the network.

The launch and first official meeting of the ICN Telenursing Network will take place on 1 July 2009 during the ICN 24th Quadrennial Congress in Durban, South Africa. All those interested in telenursing and telehealth are invited to attend this inaugural event.

ICN CEO David Benton stated, “ICN is at the forefront of preparing nurses to leverage telehealth technologies so they can extend their reach to patients anywhere and anytime. The publication of the ICN International Competencies for telenursing in 2008 provided the springboard for formation of the Telenursing Network in order to advance telenursing and telehealth. This will be pivotal for nursing and health care in the 21st century.”

Telenursing leaders in the US and Canada proposed the new network to ICN, where it was approved in May, 2008. Led by Dr. Loretta Schlachta-Fairchild, and including Lois Scott, Diane Castelli and Robert Pyke, these network leaders agree that “telenursing is a competency that all nurses will use in the future – together we must act to prepare our colleagues to incorporate this important role into their current practice. ICN, being a visionary organisation with a strong history of nursing leadership, has made a clear statement in launching the ICN Telenursing Network: telenursing offers unprecedented access to care and the ability to export nursing care using technology and is a powerful tool for global health care improvement.”

The International Council of Nurses (ICN) is a federation of 133 national nurses associations representing the millions of nurses worldwide. Operated by nurses and leading nursing internationally, ICN works to ensure quality nursing care for all and sound health policies globally (www.icn.ch).

Carol J. Bickford, PhD, RN-BC
Senior Policy Fellow
Department of Nursing Practice and Policy
American Nurses Association
Phone: 301-628-5060
Fax: 301-628-5349
carol.bickford@ana.org
www.nursingworld.org