The International Council of Nurses (ICN) was founded in 1899 and is a federation of over 130 national nurse associations, representing more than 28 million nurses worldwide. The mission of the ICN is "to represent nursing worldwide, advance the nursing profession, promote the wellbeing of nurses, and advocate for health in all policies" (ICN 2023). The 2023 ICN Congress was held in Montreal from July 1 to July 5, 2023. The theme was "Nurses Together: A Force for Global Health." During the opening ceremony, nurses representing their countries were called on stage during a roll call of countries. Over 6,000 nurses representing 145 countries attended the conference.
Multiple programs were offered at the same time from early morning until late afternoon. Attendees selected programs that met their interests. Opportunities included: plenary sessions, educational programs, regional sessions, master classes, policy discussions, and electronic posters. Particularly poignant were the presentations and videos by nurses, nurse leaders, and chief nursing officers who shared their experiences meeting the challenges of caring for patients in countries devastated by natural disasters and war. The personal and professional impact on nurses in these situations demonstrates their determination, selflessness, and dedication to people in need and their profession. Their stories were both sobering and inspiring.
Three International Home Care Nurses Organization (IHCNO) members attended: Barbara Piskor, MPH, RN, NEA-BC, President of IHCNO and the two authors. We gave a presentation that addressed one of the Congress's themes: "Nursing Leadership: Shaping the Future of Healthcare" in which we addressed how IHCNO and its network members hope to shape the way home health nursing will be practiced in patients' homes in the future. In our presentation-"Developing International Standards for Home-Based Nursing"-we shared how the next revision of the American Nurses Association' Standards for Home Health Nursing and the IHCNO's International Guidelines for Home Health Nursing will try to address the needs of nurses around the world with new international standards for home-based nursing.
In the presentation, we described how this standards project will enable home-based nurses to define their own professional practice in country culture-sensitive ways, using the full range of their nursing values, knowledge, and skills in caring for patients in their homes. We are conducting a review of the international literature related to home-based nursing and plan to conduct interviews with nurses from other countries to understand what they think the standards for home-based nursing should be. We invited ICN Congress nurses to participate in this process.
We also invite IHCNO's diverse international colleagues, who are concerned about, or have a commitment to, home-based nursing to serve as interviewees and reviewers to help us generate this new evidence-based professional resource, International Standards of Home-Based Nursing. To participate or to learn more, contact Mary Narayan at mailto:[email protected]. Also, see our website at: http://www.ihcno.org
Being among more than 6,000 nurses from around the world who are committed to nursing excellence is an inspiring and enriching experience. There are opportunities to meet nurses, share, and hear experiences that are similar or different from ours in other countries. We have a lot to learn from these colleagues. The ICN Congress is held every 2 years and ICN publishes a call for abstracts in advance of the Congress. We encourage all readers to consider submitting an abstract for the 2025 ICN Congress in Helsinki, Finland. We look forward to larger representation of home-based nurses at the 2025 ICN Congress in Finland. We look forward to meeting you there!