Global Health Nursing & Midwifery

We have submitted an abstract for the International AIDS meeting along with colleagues in Zambia to present the Zambian HIV Nurse Practitioner program...It would be nice to see a strong nursing presence there!
Lynda Law Wilson, RN, PhD, FAAN, Professor
Assistant Dean for International Affairs and
Deputy Director, PAHO/WHO Collaborating Center on International Nursing
School of Nursing, University of Alabama at Birmingham
NB 420, 1530 3rd Avenue South
Birmingham, Alabama   35294-1210
Office Phone: (205) 934 6787 Cell Phone: (205) 306 1556 FAX:  (205) 996 7183 email: 

Lynda, Good to hear from you. Your abstract sounds very interesting. I have submiteed an abstract as first author on why HIV infected persons have stopped taking their ARVs. I am a co-author on other abstracts with the HIV International Nursing Research Network. Of course I have no idea as to whether it will be accepted. Nonetheless I think it's important we know what nurses are doing at the conference and be there to support one another. So I hope other nurses will write to inform us what roles they may be playing at the conference including beina an attendee. And as importantly, what can we do to make ourselves more visible to each other and to the other participants?

I would love to attend, and would be interested in getting together with nurses, too. I am a nurse practitioner working on my PHD in orphan care in HIV-endemic regions. Also interested in HIV+ children and PMTCT in these areas. About how many total attendees are expected?

Dear colleagues,

I would love to attend to the IAS as a representative of the European HIV Nursing Network. We don' t have the funds to attend. May be we could connect through the internet and skype.


Ann Deschamps, RN, MSN
Lector Verpleegkunde,   Lecturer in Nursing
Ankerlector Internationalisering,  International Office Nursing        
Verpleegkundig onderzoeker,  Researcher in Nursing

KHLeuven, Departement Gezondheid en Technologie
Herestraat 49
B-3000 Leuven
E:
T: +32-16-375-280 of +32-16-375-200
F: +32-16-375-299
W: www.khleuven.be

Bestuurslid van de European HIV Nursing Network            
Regionale voorzitter Benelux en Frankrijk
Member of the Steering Committee of the European HIV Nursing Network
Regional Chair Benelux and France        
W: www.eurohivnursing.net/

Internationale coördinator verpleegkunde binnen het Florence Network
Exchange coordinator nursing in the Florence Network
W: http://www.florence-network.info

To respond to Pamela's and Ann's comments in no set order, I offer the following and hope others reading this will chime in.
While I don't know how many attendees there will be, my hunch is that it will be very well attended. What does that mean? I would think 18,000-20,000 people. I know that the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care is planning a satellite session and will have a booth. My hunch is that the Canadian Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, a very dynamic group who have been very active in international activities, may also be present. A suggestion would be to attend for a particular day if funds are an impediment. There are also IAS scholarship funds that would be worth pursuing, Ann. Given your stature and position in various organizations, Ann, the IAS may find some way to sponsor you. Plus I think you likely are able to converse in several languages which may be an asset to them. And Pamela, as a student you too may be eligible for decreased fees. Finally, I know they have been looking for volunteers and that may be another opportunity to decrease the ...

To respond to Pamela's and Ann's comments in no set order, I offer the following and hope others reading this will chime in.
While I don't know how many attendees there will be, my hunch is that it will be very well attended. What does that mean? I would think 18,000-20,000 people. I know that the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care is planning a satellite session and will have a booth. My hunch is that the Canadian Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, a very dynamic group who have been very active in international activities, may also be present. A suggestion would be to attend for a particular day if funds are an impediment. There are also IAS scholarship funds that would be worth pursuing, Ann. Given your stature and position in various organizations, Ann, the IAS may find some way to sponsor you. Plus I think you likely are able to converse in several languages which may be an asset to them. And Pamela, as a student you too may be eligible for decreased fees. Finally, I know they have been looking for volunteers and that may be another opportunity to decrease the costs of attendance. Of course none of this reduces the costs of transportation and housing. Perhaps, nurses in the DC area could help with that.

Dear Inge,

Thanks for the reply. I looked at the website, the do need volunteers but cannot give any fee.

It is ok. I know that we can get every day during the conference the most interesting topics and will try to put that on our website so that nurses in Europe can at least have that information too.

One day we might meet and I would love it;


Ann Deschamps, RN, MSN
Lector Verpleegkunde,   Lecturer in Nursing
Ankerlector Internationalisering,  International Office Nursing        
Verpleegkundig onderzoeker,  Researcher in Nursing

KHLeuven, Departement Gezondheid en Technologie
Herestraat 49
B-3000 Leuven
E:
T: +32-16-375-280 of +32-16-375-200
F: +32-16-375-299
W: www.khleuven.be

Bestuurslid van de European HIV Nursing Network            
Regionale voorzitter Benelux en Frankrijk
Member of the Steering Committee of the European HIV Nursing Network
Regional Chair Benelux and France        
W: www.eurohivnursing.net/

Internationale coördinator verpleegkunde binnen het Florence Network
Exchange coordinator nursing in the Florence Network
W: http://www.florence-network.info

This will be my first IAS as it is more accessible, with several colleagues from our PhD program rooming in with friends in DC to cut costs. Inge as you are a nurse as well as a sociologist, perhaps you can comment on this. These conferences bring up identity issues for me when one has to indicate field of research/work - am I a nurse, a health services researcher, a policy analyst -yes to all three -but how to keep from being confined to one area?

Elizabeth Glaser, MSc, MA, ACRN, RN-BC
Doctoral candidate, Social Policy
Institute for Global Health and Development
Heller School for Social Policy and Management
Brandeis University
415 South Street, MS 035
Waltham, Massachusetts. USA 02453

The Association of Nurses in AIDS Care are in the active planning phase for this conference. Please keep an eye on our website for more information. We will have a booth and a satellite session at the conference and many more activities are being planned. Inge is right, you can offer to volunteer at the conference and can get in for free. Good luck for all who have submitted abstracts and we look forward to seeing every one!

Ann, years ago when I was president-elect of ANAC I went to a meeting of the European Association of Nurses in AIDS Care. I think it was held in Jersey (the island). And I certainly have seen your name over the years. Do take a look to see if volunteering might mean free entree to the conference or whther any of the European groups could use extra help at their booths- just a thought. I look forward to meeting you at some time in person.
Elizabeth I've come to the conclusion for me that I'm a nurse who is also a sociologist and a researcher. My primary identification is as a nurse, an identification I wear with pride. I am who I am! I understand the conflicts in that they want to count beans when we're brussel sprouts and carrots as well as beans. In keeping things simple they lose some vauable data. With IAS it's very important to identify as nurses if we're ever to have any power in the organization.
Sue Willard as some of you may know is the President-elect of ANAC and is very much a part of the planning for ...

Ann, years ago when I was president-elect of ANAC I went to a meeting of the European Association of Nurses in AIDS Care. I think it was held in Jersey (the island). And I certainly have seen your name over the years. Do take a look to see if volunteering might mean free entree to the conference or whther any of the European groups could use extra help at their booths- just a thought. I look forward to meeting you at some time in person.
Elizabeth I've come to the conclusion for me that I'm a nurse who is also a sociologist and a researcher. My primary identification is as a nurse, an identification I wear with pride. I am who I am! I understand the conflicts in that they want to count beans when we're brussel sprouts and carrots as well as beans. In keeping things simple they lose some vauable data. With IAS it's very important to identify as nurses if we're ever to have any power in the organization.
Sue Willard as some of you may know is the President-elect of ANAC and is very much a part of the planning for ANAC and may also have some good ideas about increasing our visibility at the IAS meeting. In years past, we had a list of all of the nurses who were presenting at the meeting whether ANAC members or not. That would be something that could be arranged. Just knowing who is at the meeting would be a help. Could we have a list of names and contact information at the ANAC booth? Then some of our colleagues who are not necessarily ANAC members could let us know they are at the meeting. Finally ICN was not in the main exhibit hall in Vienna and may not have a booth. Sharing the ANAC booth with ICN might be a way to capture the array of nurses present at the IAS meeting. It would also be important to capture their contact information and whether they are IAS members. This would be the basic data we need and could not get from the IAS for future initiatives within the organization.

As Inge and Sue Willard have pointed out the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (ANAC) via the Global Specialty Committee is in the planning process to have a significant presence at IAS. In addition to a satellite session (time TBA), many members have submitted abstracts and we will have a booth...and be seeking volunteers to help staff. We are also planning to have a pre-conference reception on the day before the opening of the conference which we hope to open to all nurses attending the IAS meeting… if the budget allows. As far as all nursing abstracts once any of you hear about submission acceptances, please post and we can make sure we get the word out via this venue plus blast e-mails to all members of ANAC.

I agree with Inge....and encourage all nurses to self identify as nurses! Numbers count for impact.

Once our plans are finalized we will make sure we share all the information. Also open to hearing from all with additional ideas. Here's hoping for the voice of nurses to be heard loud and clear :)).

--

Pat Daoust

Just so everyone is aware, Pat Daoust is an amazing nurse leader who has an important role in global health care. One of her current roles is to co-chair the Global Specialty Committee for the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (ANAC). As such she and Sue Willard are part of and privy to the plans for ANAC and perhaps other organizations. Any of the readers of this blog who know of other nursing related activities, please share your information. In writing this it occurred to me that the International HIV Nursing Research Network will be meeting on the Saturday prior to the conference. The purpose of the meeting will be to discuss our next study.There may be other such meetings that can help us identify the nurses who will be at the AIDS meeting. And agreeing with Pat, dare I say, it's time for nurses to come out of the closet and make themselves known and their impact felt.

Several members of the RI ANAC Chapter have submitted an abstract to IAS on routine HIV testing of in-patients in the acute care setting. I plan to be at the conference, and I am looking forward to a strong nursing presence.
Kudos to Pat Daoust on the launch of the Global Health Service Corps. We had a small, but enthusiastic nursing representation at the anouncement in DC yesterday. We know that it is only due to Pat's steadfast advocacy for nursing that we are playing such a significant role in this venture.

Thank you Anne. As most of you know Anne has been a steadfast nursing presence in the Clinton Foundation. Again, how might we best identify the nursing presence at the International AIDS meeting?