Dear colleagues,
the year 2015 was quite rich in various events in the world, European and national scale. The extensive migration crisis has jolted; prognosticators emphasize progressive degradation of demographic and health conditions of European population; and universities in Slovakia are going through the process of national accreditation. The facts stated above bring on new challenges and priorities also to a nursing profession, both at the academic-research level or clinical-practical level.
The American Nurses Association, The International Council of Nurses and other nursing-related research institutions characterize the role of research in Nursing, giving significant knowledge for nursing practice and status of a nursing profession, as the ability to apply this scientific background in order to support health of population in a local socio-cultural context. The current social issues may influence the development of research in Nursing, which usually arise from multifactorial determinants of health as well as from ethical or socio-economical aspects. In 2012 the member states of the European area belonging to WHO adopted a new health policy – the document called Health 2020 – which main goal is a significant improvement of health and well-being of population, boosting and ensuring sustainable health systems of high quality, which are focused on people. Taking into consideration complexity of issues mentioned above, the interdisciplinary characteristic of nursing-related research and co-operation with other humanistic, social and biomedical sciences should be made stronger. The implementation of research and clinical competences for nurses into the new curricula and development of life-long education should guarantee that educational institutions will train nurses how to overcome notional barriers between “academic theory” and real-life clinical practice, and integrate it creatively in their work. There are several barriers when trying to reach the goals of nursing-related research and education – long-lasting lack of financial support for education and science, decrease of motivation to study Nursing, low social status of a nurses, brain-drain of young well-educated nurses working abroad, or stagnation of passing a law in this field of science. So are we really ready for new challenges?
Mgr. Ivana Bóriková, PhD.
Comenius University in Bratislava, Jessenius Faculty of Medicine in Martin, Department of Nursing