Message from BACCN Conference Director on May's Florence Nightingale Webinar chat and our theme for our 2020 Virtual Conference
28th May 2020
Earlier this month we were fortunate enough to have taken part in a webinar chat with members of the "Florence Nightingale Comes Home 2020" team from Nottingham University. Never has Critical Care Nursing been the spotlight like we've been over the last couple of months because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our theme for the BACCN Virtual Conference in September is "Critical Care Nursing: the next decade", and I want to ask: "As a nurse working in 2020 can you still relate to Florence Nightingale?"
It was a great opportunity to get to know Florence Nightingale on a much more personal level through the work done by amongst others:
Paul Crawford: Professor of Health Humanities at the School of Health Sciences. He has led several other AHRC-funded projects prior to this one. He has published books, chapters, and articles on literature, language, and history in relation to healthcare. He is also a registered nurse. Paul founded the new, global, and rapidly developing field of Health Humanities, through which he researches applications of the arts and humanities that inform and transform healthcare, health, and wellbeing.
Richard Bates: Research Fellow in the Department of History. Richard's research focuses on how ideas influence social change and on the relationships between individual figures, social formations, and political power. He has an interest in women in medicine.
At a time of great global economic uncertainty with growing patient numbers across all spectrums of health and social care, there’s an increasing evidence base that points to the need for more highly educated nurses. This is in stark contrast with what is currently happening: student nursing bursaries being cut alongside a significant drop in funding being made available for continuous professional development as well as ongoing post-graduate education. Worldwide, nurses have developed themselves into professionals with a great deal of knowledge, skills, and experience. Despite these developments towards professionalisation, previous studies on this subject have shown that nurses are not given due recognition for the skills they have by much of the public. This is on a backdrop of ongoing issues surrounding pay, staffing, workload, and the effect our chosen profession has on our overall health and wellbeing with increasing recognition of burnout syndrome.
Have a listen, then join us during our virtual conference where we'll take this discussion forward
Karin
BACCN Conference Director