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
No comments:
Post a Comment