International Council of Nurses

International Council of Nurses

Introduction

The International Council of Nurses (ICN) is a federation that is formed by a combination of over 130 national nurses associations (NNAs). ICN, as an organization, represents more than 13 million nurses globally. This organization was formed in the year 1899, and is the first and the biggest international organization that represents health professionals (Attar, 2009). The main purpose of ICN is to ensure that quality nursing services are provided to patients in all conditions and environments. The organization has further taken steps to make policies that can help to improve health care provision worldwide. In addition, ICN has taken steps to the advancement of nursing knowledge so that the latest health care services are provided to patients in an efficient manner.

Discussion

Position Statement of International Council of Nurses

The International Council of Nurses has prepared a variety of position statements for different scenarios. Considering the overall picture, ICN's position statements aim to provide high quality health and nursing care to patients in any scenario. ICN believes that there is major role in hiring, training and preservation of nursing professionals in order to accomplish the enhancement of patient safety (Pavlish, C., Ho, A. and Rounkle, A., 2012). Furthermore, ICN believes that there should be advancement in facilities that must focus on patient safety and infrastructure. An advanced infrastructure will definitely prove supportive in development. While addressing patient safety, nurses are required to inform patients about the possible risks and methods of risk reduction.

In order to prevent patient injuries, early identification of risk is the key. This further depends upon creating a culture of belief, reliability, honesty and open interaction between nurses and the patients within the health care system (www.icn.ch). ICN solely believes the concept of system wide approach that is based on the element of transparency and reporting, rather than blaming the nursing professionals. According to the position statement, ICN has a strong concern about the threats related to patients' safety and healthcare quality that may result from lack of properly trained personnel. According to ICN, nurses have certain responsibilities in the accomplishment of their role.

Importance of Nursing

Nursing has an important role to play in health care setting. According to Journal of Clinical Nursing, the role of Registered Nurses (R.N.s) is to promote health, prevent disease, and assist patients to get better from illness. The importance of nurses has increased with the passage of time because the relationship between patients and physicians has reduced consequently, and the relationship between patients and nurses has increased drastically (Gehlert & Browne, 2006). This is because physicians have to treat as many patients as possible due to a large number of appointments. Thus, nurses serve as a bridge between physicians and patients.

Significance

Nurses were used to be consider as doctor's and physician's deputies, but now, they have more responsibility as well as more respect in the society. When patients become ill, they find nurses as their first line of defense. The responsibilities now nurses possess include; assessment of illness, gathering ...