|
INLI Hosts Final Session of Class III in St. Petersburg
Originally published in AIHA's Connections, July 2002.
AIHA's International Nursing Leadership Institute (INLI) held the final of a three-part series of skill-enhancement workshops, June 5-11, in St. Petersburg, Russia. Marking the end of Class III, the workshop brought together 22 nurses from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine, and was designed to enhance the skills of nurses, create nurse leaders and nurse educators, and advance the nursing profession within AIHA partnership countries. (See "INLI Begins Class III Training" and "INLI Holds Session 2 in Tbilisi")
| INLI Class III members pose with Galina Popova (center, wearing a red jacket), a WWII nurse who shared her experience as a health worker during the war.
(Photo: Sharon Weinstein)
|
Like the previous sessions held in November 2001 in Indianapolis, Indiana, and in March 2002 in Tbilisi, Georgia, the final workshop was taught by both NIS and US faculty and incorporated skits based on popular fairytales to re-enforce the importance of nursing ethics and principles and identify avenues for nurses to achieve professional success and avoid pitfalls. Using themes from such stories as "Rumplestiltskin," "Goldilocks and the Three Bears," and "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," the faculty taught nurses that unrealistic performance expectations result in inappropriate behaviors, that sales and negotiation strategies must be carefully planned and implemented to be effective, and that to be truly effective, managers need to participate in continuous learning, respectively.
Offering stimulating sessions that taught nurses how to negotiate effectively, solve problems, and be active listeners, the workshop provided an opportunity for nurses to hear remarks from nursing association leaders and INLI graduates while interactive activities gave nurses an opportunity to improve their communication and presentation skills. In addition, workshop faculty encouraged the nurses to participate in continuous learning and to focus on building their leadership abilities.
| Vicki George talks to nurses about professional nursing practices.
(Photo: Sharon Weinstein)
|
This final session was led by Ann Marie Brooks, dean of Catholic University's School of Nursing in Washington, DC; Edouard Ovsianikov, head of the Department of Practical Training at the Nursing School of Hospital #122 in St. Petersburg; Maya Simonyan, nurse at Erebouni Medical Center in Yerevan and an INLI graduate; Sharon Weinstein, president of Core Consulting Group Limited in Lake Forest, Illinois, and principal technical resource for AIHA's nursing program; and Jane Younger, president of the Kentucky Nurses Foundation and member of AIHA's now-graduated St. Petersburg/Louisville partnership. Vicki George, chief nurse executive and regional vice president of the Wisconsin-based Aurora Health Care Metro Region and consultant with the Institute for Research and Education Consultation (IREC), and Anita Lymburner, nurse and consultant also at IREC, served as guest faculty.
Edouard Ovsianikov and Maya Simonyan moderated a "Get-Acquainted" session where participants shared their most recent accomplishments, which ranged from job promotions to project completions to educational achievements.
During another session, nurses were asked to identify key leadership challenges in their home countries. Among the results, nurses cited nursing and faculty shortage, lack of financial resources, poor working conditions, access to medical services, and patient safety, privacy, and rights, as common problems that span across borders.
| Sharon Weinstein and Emily Fedullo, AIHA program officer, present Maria Munteanu with a certificate of completion during the graduation ceremony.
(Photo: courtesy of Sharon Weinstein)
|
Addressing the nurses during her presentation on professional practices, Vicki George told attendees that the quality of nursing practice is determined by standards, which are the basis for the measurement of the Magnet program. Highlighting individual practice, education, collegiality, ethics, collaboration, research, and resource utilization, George noted that these tools make up the standard for nursing administration that lead to achieving Magnet status. "Education must be ongoing," George said, adding that "A systematic way in which education occurs within the organization is when those things learned in education are applied to practice. The experience you had today you would take back to your organization and teach others and apply it to the practice of caring for patients." George also emphasized that nurses should ask nurse administrators or chief nurses at their institutions to hold each nurse accountable for their individual practice, their peer review or performance evaluation, their continuous learning, and their use of research and utilization of resources.
Following George's talk, Valentina Sarkisova, president of the All-Russian Nursing Association in Moscow, discussed how the INLI has positively impacted her practice.
In addition to the training, the workshop included a site visit to Sokolov Medical Center-an NIS institution of the now-graduated St. Petersburg/Louisville partnership-in St. Petersburg. There, Jakov Nakatis, chief physician, and Galina Orlova, chief nurse, of the Center, met with the group and led them on a tour the Center's resource facility and two clinical areas.
The meeting concluded with a graduation ceremony and awards banquet where faculty presented nurses with certificates and gifts of pens and pins for completing the year-long course.
|
