I hope that everyone has had a safe and successful April. As promised, this is the fifth of my monthly ‘President Blogs’ the purpose of which is to keep you updated on what your Board is doing on your behalf, and hopefully to generate discussion/debate/suggestions from our members on what IntNSA is doing and how we can go from ‘Great to Greater’.
2020-2022 Strategy and Work Programme
By way of update:
IntNSA USA: This work continues – both Dana and Sue have put out some ‘doodle poll dates’ for members within the USA to meet up, and we can now confirm that the first ‘working group’ meeting has been scheduled for Friday May 7. See the screenshot below, which offers all of the zoom joining details. If you have not had the opportunity to confirm attendance but would like to join this group/discussion on the next steps for IntNSA USA, please feel free to join using these details. If you would like to speak with Dana and/or Sue prior to the meeting, they can be contacted via email as follows: Dana Murphy-Parker (murphyparkerd@gmail.com) and Sue Newton (suenewton@humassociates.net). We are very excited about this meeting, and I hope to report back on how the group wish to move forward in my May Blog.
Update on Global Realignment
As mentioned last month, we are currently exploring the best ‘methodology’ on how to canvass and consult both within IntNSA but also drawing down on ‘experts’ outside of the organization. We hope to shortly establish the ‘President’s Council’ – invites will be going out this month to each Chapter’s President to meet with me, Dana and Sue on next steps. This Council will act as a working group on the realignment issue, supporting and advising the IntNSA Board as we move forward.
I have also continued to engage with ‘external experts/organizations’ who may be able to assist IntNSA as it continues to expand its global footprint and reputation. On April 27, with our consultant to the IntNSA Board, Lisa Darsch, we had a virtual call with Brian Morales (Branch Chief, Counternarcotics, Office of Global Programs and Policy, INL Bureau at US Department of State), and his colleagues Charlotte Sissons (Senior Foreign Affairs Officer, Drug Demand Reduction), and Anne Chick (Foreign Affairs Officer). INL, who are extremely active in the Drug Demand space and support international work, including that of ISSUP and the Colombo Plan Drug Advisory Programme agreed that the work and ambitions of IntNSA are in line with their own strategy and vision. We spoke about how both organizations could support each other and the role of nursing in particular, and the possibilities of developing ‘standards of care/competencies’ globally for nursing. We will be moving forward to establishing a formal ‘Memorandum of Co-operation’. So, watch this space!
In the meantime, and by way of disseminating good practice and connecting respective work, ICUDDR is also a partner of ISSUP and INL and is hosting their conference – Sustaining and Adapting Addiction Science to Virtual Realities – 20-21 July 2021 registration is opening in May (Available to Everyone) so do check this out!
See below for details about ICUDDR, and if you work within a University, you may wish to connect with this group.
ICUDDR is a global consortium of universities that offer graduate and postgraduate study programs specifically focusing on the transfer and adaptation of science-based knowledge regarding the prevention and treatment of substance use disorders. The Consortium provides a collaborative forum to support and share curricula and experiences in the teaching and training of this knowledge as well as to promote and encourage the recruitment of persons interested in the research, prevention and treatment of substance use disorders and public health. The ICUDDR provides an opportunity for universities and institutions of higher learning to share their expertise as well as to support instructors/faculty, trainers, and students in their learning and adoption of the science of substance use disorders.
CALLING ALL IntNSA Members and Nurses in the African Region
Lives and livelihoods in Africa are lost every day to a medical disorder of which the true extent and severity are unknown.
Addiction needs to be seen for what it is. Not as a weakness. Not as a lack of character. Not as something that needs to be punished.
Substance use disorder (SUD) is a diagnosable, treatable medical disorder, and no country or company can afford to lose any more resources to ineffective, uncoordinated addiction treatment protocols.
The ADDICTION 2021 Conference is a platform to create practical, evidence-based SUD solutions relevant to Africa by facilitating collaboration between:
- doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses and other healthcare practitioners
- pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors
- social work specialists
- medical aid and managed care providers
- hospital group owners and administrators
- rehabilitation providers
- academia and researchers
- government officials from the departments of social development, health, education, justice, law enforcement and correctional services
- non-profit organizations, faith-based organizations, community-based organizations and more
Membership: Board Members are continuing to work on drafting our Membership Survey to ascertain members’ views on why they are ‘attracted’ to IntNSA; what keeps them with IntNSA; and more importantly, what do they ‘want or need’ from IntNSA. This survey will be landing in your inboxes in May so that Board can review the findings at its scheduled Virtual Retreat end of June. Please take the time to complete it – the more feedback we have, the more the Society will reflect your vision and respond to your needs.
Financial Health: Work continues, and we are now in Phase 2 – the Board will be reviewing both Phase 1 and 2 in May, in time for our Virtual Retreat in late June. At this point, we will wish to present to members how the Board, going forward, will be sharing the Society’s Financial Health and how the Society’s dues and investments are put to ‘work’.
Comms and Branding – Kris Waite-Labott and Sean Collinge continue to work on this area and will be sharing with you shortly our ‘next big campaign’ – so do keep a close eye on your inboxes. We have also begun working on connecting our ‘eLearning platform’ with our mainframe Website so that the webinars (presentations and posters) shared at our 2020 conference can be available to our members on an ongoing basis as part of their membership benefits.
Update on the work of our FIAANs
I am delighted to report that our FIAANs met in April and are now actively taking forward a plan of action to ‘reset’ the work of our FIAANs and their role within the wider organization. Congratulations and a big thank you to Michelle Knapp, who has agreed to ‘take over’ as the leader of the FIAAN group (details to be shared once the group have formalized their new structure) and Deborah Bowman, who has agreed to be the Secretary to the group. I would also like to thank Phyllis Raynor, who continues to support the work of the FIAANs and is working with the ‘new FIAAN leadership team’ in redrafting their guidelines. Finally, on behalf of IntNSA, can I also formally thank President-Elect Dana Murphy-Parker for her stewardship of the FIAAN group as she now moves her attention to the Realignment Work. We hope to share and publish the FIAAN’s ‘relaunch’ in the next couple of months as they engage in their work programme.
Addictions Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice
Many of our members will know that the American Nurses Association (ANA) and IntNSA partner to jointly produce the Addictions Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice, which is one of several specialty nursing scope and standards of practice documents. This exercise is undertaken approximately every five years to describe a competent level of nursing care at each level of addictions nursing practice and is a key publication of our Society.
As mentioned in my last blog – our Scope & Standards of Practice Document is now out for our 30 Day Public Review. Please click on the image on the left – this will take you directly to the page on our website, where you can read and comment on the document. This is about ‘your practice’; please comment!!!
1º Congresso Internacional – IntNSA – April 12 – Global Conference
Finally, I wish to thank the IntNSA Portugal for inviting me to address their Conference in April. Congratulations to Professor Paulo Rosario De Carvalho Seabra, President of IntNSA Portugal Chapter and his colleagues for organizing this 2-day event with over 70 participants. If you click on the title of the conference above, this will take you a YouTube recording of the session that myself and Paulo presented. The first part is in English, and the second part is in Portuguese.
As always, please feel free to reach out to me or any of the Board members if you would like to discuss anything shared in this blog or if you have any other thoughts or ideas that you would like to see the Board address.
Have a great month, stay well and stay safe!
President Carmel Clancy
April 30, 2021
