Two world-recognized nursing events – Sigma International Nursing Research Congress (INRC) in Calgary and the International Council of Nurses (ICN) Congress in Singapore – exposed nursing and health-care leaders from around the world to RNAO’s influential best practice guidelines (BPG) as well as its powerful Best Practice Spotlight Organization (BPSO) work. Representatives from RNAO and from BPSOs around the world were at both events to share poster presentations and host interactive sessions.
Sigma International Nursing Research Congress
RNAO CEO Doris Grinspun delivered the opening plenary session for Sigma in Calgary (find out more about the event HERE). ‘It was incredible,’ some participants tweeted, adding it was one of the best keynotes they had ever heard. “We are not just celebrating RNAO. We are celebrating thousands of nurses all around the world who are using BPGs and giving them life. This is all about them, not us,” Grinspun told the audience of over 1,200.
Participants from 44 countries attended the five-day event, where BPGs and the BPSO program received tremendous buzz on site and in the months that followed. Grinspun says that is in large part due to the exposure of the program to a large international audience. “We delivered the opening plenary session, a magnificent symposium, and poster presentations that were as packed with knowledge and passion as they were with attendees,” Grinspun says.
“I was so impressed with our team,” she adds, referring to RNAO home office staff members Susan McNeill, manager, implementation science, Shanoja Naik, data scientist/statistician, Danny Wang, evaluation analyst, and Rita Wilson, eHealth program manager. “Sitting in on their sophisticated and impactful presentations filled me with pride.”
McNeill and Tricia Swartz, senior manager at the Canadian Patient Safety Institute (CPSI), delivered an interactive session about the RNAO/CPSI partnership to produce the Leading Change Toolkit, a user-friendly toolkit to support the uptake and sustainability of evidence-based practice. Naik, Wang and Wilson delivered a symposium on NQuIRE (Nursing Quality Inidcators for Reporting and Evaluation) and BPG Order Sets.
“I found the event overall was motivating and inspiring,” McNeill says. Spending time at the RNAO booth and talking with delegates from around the world made me realize nurses’ capacity to influence change on a global scale, she adds. “It was obvious we are filling a need globally for resources people can trust. Nurses the world over see themselves as leaders and we give them the tools to make that happen.”
"Having Dr. Grinspun as our opening plenary was a key highlight of the Congress,” says Sigma CEO Liz Madigan. “Participants kept talking and tweeting about her messages, which inspired them. 'Nursing is a tool for change, the most powerful tool to build a better world for all,'…that’s the message which resonated the most with participants.”
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RNAO CEO Doris Grinspun (left) was a judge for the 2019 Sigma Hackathon, where participants were invited to work in groups to find viable solutions to health challenges. Fellow Sigma board members on the judging panel: (from left) Thóra Hafsteinsdóttir, Sandra Bibb and Kenneth Dion.
PHOTO 2
Second-place winners of the Sigma Hackathon celebrate their success with team members and judges.
PHOTO 3
Susan McNeill, RNAO senior manager, implementation science (behind the desk), chats with a visitor to the RNAO information booth.
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RNAO CEO Doris Grinspun (centre left) and Susan McNeill, senior manager, implementation science (centre right), host visitors at a book signing session for Transforming Nursing Through Knowledge, RNAO's book that chronicles the evolution of the association's Best Practice Guidelines (BPG) program.
International Council of Nurses (ICN) Congress
When RNAO was at ICN’s Congress in Singapore, the response to BPGs and the BPSO program was equally heightened. Over that five-day event, there were 11 poster presentations by a number of different RNAO BPSOs from Ontario and abroad, including Australia, Chile, China, Italy and Spain. From Ontario, in addition to presentations by RNAO President Angela Cooper Brathwaite, CEO Doris Grinspun, and associate directors Megan Bamford (guideline development and research) and Heather McConnell (IABPG cenre), RNAO’s academic BPSOs, Ryerson University and Nipissing University, offered poster presentations.
"It was thrilling to spend time at RNAO's booth. The buzz and energy were magnetic and we were all-hands-on-deck responding to the never-ending line-up of congress participants eager to learn more about RNAO's work in policy and of course on BPGs."
Louela Manankil-Rankin, BPSO lead at Nipissing University, was a fixture at the RNAO booth throughout the event. "It was thrilling to spend time at RNAO's booth. The buzz and energy were magnetic and we were all-hands-on-deck responding to the never-ending line-up of congress participants eager to learn more about RNAO's work in policy and of course on BPGs. In fact, I brought Dr. Virya Koy, Cambodia’s deputy director of health, to the booth to learn more about our BPG and BPSO programs."
The booth “…became a main hub of activity for delegates from all over the world interested in BPGs and becoming a BPSO,” says McConnell. “It became the meeting place for BPSOs…positioned right at the entrance…front-and centre.”
That attention and intrigue in the program was not lost on World Health Organization (WHO) Chief Nursing Officer Elizabeth Iro, who made time to sit down with Grinspun over dinner at the event, and who has since joined RNAO’s International Advisory Committee (IAC), a group of provincial, national and international experts who provide advice on the technical, evaluation, system, policy, and research implications of NQuIRE.
"Having spent time with Dr. Grinspun to learn more about RNAO's BPGs and BPSO program was extremely helpful for the work I do at WHO,” Iro says. “I am thrilled to now be engaged in the IAC alongside colleagues from OECD and other international agencies. This will help us advance our common goal of linking nursing practice excellence to patients, organizations and health system outcomes."
(From left) Jesus Bujalance, BPSO lead for Spain, Megan Bamford, RNAO associate director, and Doris Grinspun, CEO, take a moment to pose with some of the materials on hand at the event, including RNAO's book, Transforming Nursing Through Knowledge.
RNAO continues to follow up on the expressions of interest and connections made at both the Sigma and ICN events. Planning for future events is already underway. Sigma’s research Congress will happen again in July 2020, and ICN has started planning for its next Congress in June 2021. Both events will take place in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.