International Nurses Day 2014 has the theme "Nurses: A Force for Change". Nurses are a vital resource for health and their quality of care contributes to positive health outcomes. Nurses need to engage in research to provide evidence of the effectiveness of nursing care and inform health policy. Developing flexible educational programs can help address nurse supply shortages by allowing nurses to more easily change practice settings. Workforce planning is also important to ensure enough nurses are available to meet population needs. Nurses have an important role in all levels of prevention and promoting innovative health education.

1. 12th May 2014

2. 12th May
International Nurses Day 2014
Theme
NURSES: A FORCE FOR CHANGE
A vital resource for health
Dr. Waled Amen Mohammed Ahmed
Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences
Nursing Department

3. 3

4.  Nurses have to observe and celebrate
12th May every year with different
theme in order:
oTo “change the picture”
oTo reinforce how a skilled nurse
response can transform
lives, families, communities and
indeed countries.
oNurses need to model this
message not just on this day but
from this day onwards.

5. 5
WHO; “Investing in nursing can make a
difference in achieving MDGs”.
The nursing workforce is the largest group
of health professionals and a vital resource
for the health of the population
Nursing research has shown that nurses’
quality of care makes a big contribution to
the health outcomes of patients in the short
and long term.

6. 6
The WHO progress report (2013b) describes
achievements adopted by the WHA to
strengthen nursing and midwifery services.
Nurses at every level should contribute to
making a positive difference in their work
environment.

7. 7
Nurses need to acknowledge their personal
responsibility to initiate progress.
Nurses have to engage with research and
develop innovative models that will
contribute evidence of the effectiveness of
nursing care and inform health policy
makers.

8. Workforce flexibility
8
It is an additional strategy towards
addressing nurse supply shortages
Developing educational programs to
support nurses to move from one
clinical setting, or area of
practice, during their careers would
increase the current level of flexibility
in the nurse workforce.

9. Workforce planning
9
Planning a sufficient number of nurses to
meet the population’s demand for care is
crucial to delivering excellence in nursing
care.
The supply of health workers, including
nurses, must be keenly sensitive to the
needs of the population it serves.
Evidence-based strategies enable workforce
planning to be undertaken in order to meet
the population’s need for care (IND
2014, p.15).

10. 10
Shifting from community-based to
community directed interventions
(Mounkaila, 2012).
Have a role at all levels of prevention
Developing innovative educational
programs to promote health .
Nurses are mainly practitioners in
hospitals.

11. What are the roles of the nurse?
Nurse
Teacher
Advocator
educator
Researcher
Manager
Care Provider
Change agent
Collaborator
Coordinator
Leader

12. Conclusion
 Nurses have a great responsibility
to promote the health of the
population as well as to contribute
towards the achievement of the
Millennium Development Goals.
 It is essential that nurses and world
leaders and organizations focus on
the global nursing workforce as a
key priority for achieving better
health for all.

13. Conclusion
Nurses are Achievers
The Change agents in health sector in the World

14. Thanks

15. References
15
1. International Council of Nurses 2014, Nurses:
A Force for Change – A Vital Resource for
Health-kit. Geneva, Switzerland, 2014.
2. Walker, J & Hendry, C 2009, A review of
literature on the measurement of patient
dependency, workload and workload planning
and allocation within the context of nursing in
the community. Wellington: NZNO (District
Nurses Section) Christchurch: New Zealand
Institute of Community Health Care, Nov.
3. Mounkaila, Community Directed
intervention, Geneva, 2012