Presentation(s) at 1st Int. Congress of Nursing Models and Theories in Colombia

I will revise this post over the coming week and add more, including one of the Spanish slides.

Many thanks to Danny Eduardo Rodriguez for meeting me at the airport (and to everyone who waited  with Eduardo). Hearing my name and seeing the university transport proved instantly reassuring. Thanks also Eduardo for the in-session translation - a great help and for your efforts to ensure I felt at home and a part of things: I certainly did. ... 

Well I am due to leave Paipa soon for Bogota El Dorado airport and the trip home via Paris. It is a beautiful day in Paipa. Very warm, bright sun, from my room I can see people water skiing on the lake.


Yesterday's presentation, workshop and Q and A session were very well received through a lecture and workshop. These would not have been as successful with the brilliant work* of Interpreter Andrea Ramirez on both occasions.
I had started to add some Spanish translations to my slides and these were checked and extended by Luz Stella Saray and Prof. Wilson Canon Montanez, (UDeS) to whom I extend sincere thanks (a good photographer too!).


In the morning session Andrea related each slide in Spanish after my account. For the workshop I had emailed the case study in English with a Spanish version c/o Google translate. This had been checked and improved and the format we followed was for students to read the case study and then individually draw out the aspects of Alice's case (fictitious yet based on 20+ years of experience) which they feel significant across the care domains. During this exercise for 20-25 minutes Andrea assisted again with some questions from individual students. Then in groups of 4-5 they collectively reflected on their 'results'. Finally each group in turn offered one item for each of the four domains. Astute questions from the floor and discussions followed. Not having done this before, with the addition of translation I was surprised at how well it worked: instant teamwork!

At 5.30 Luz had arranged to meet to discuss nursing in England. A little jet-lagged, I thought she meant with 2-3 colleagues, but in the end the room was filled as we were joined by 60-70 students in a circle. I can't believe that 90 minutes passed. The students and faculty are so very enthusiastic, charming, friendly and knowledgeable. Two days is not long to learn and make judgements, but from the student's questions they seem acutely aware of the specific health challenges and issues they face in Colombia. Their professor's approach in pursuing this meeting reflected an awareness of 'nursing as it is learned and practiced elsewhere'. I advised I was not able to speak generally, outlining my specific role and location. I let them know I was drawing from matters I do know (as highlighted on W2tQ) and personal experience. The notion of 'basic nursing care' is clearly and unsurprisingly universal given this encounter.

You do need to consider such travel very carefully: your health, security, travelling alone... The organisers took care of this assuring a personal meeting at the airport, transport and accommodation. The journey was hard for me from the UK. A short hop Manchester to Paris 1.15-30 was followed by an 11 hr and 10 hr flight back home passing through Bogota. Travel is difficult due to the condition of the roads, driving laws and the traffic situation that the populous of Bogota faces; but where there are 'gaps' (pot holes!) there is a way through.

I never would have believed I would set foot in South America. To stand under Orion and see Canopus was another dream come true. As Space Shuttle Discovery set off on her last flight I was making discoveries of my own in helping others do the same.

I am very grateful to GICS - the three Universities UPTC, UdeS and Unillanos who invited me and supported my attendance; plus my employer Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust and colleagues covering duty for new referrals at the Beechurst Unit, Chorley, Lancashire. This has been a marvellous experience, with many contacts made that I hope will grow in the future.

*Presenting in Spanish at the conference (Teoría “Marco de la Organización Sistémica” con enfoque en Familia), Dr Marie Luise Friedemann - RN, PHD and her husband informed me of Andrea's effectiveness and memory feat. Dr Friedemann, Profesora de la Universidad Internacional de la Florida, in Miami and I also hope to compare our respective interests.

OERU / OERF / UNESCO Press release: Towards an OER university - Free learning for all students worldwide

Please circulate: Joint OER Foundation / UNESCO press release.

The Open Education Resource (OER) Foundation is to host a strategic international meeting in Dunedin on 23 February, to commence planning for the provision of free learning to all students worldwide. Support from the United Nations Science and Education Organisation (UNESCO) to stream the meeting on the internet will allow the participation of education leaders and interested persons from around the globe.
Join the meeting as a virtual participant and help make OER futures happen.

Read more.


(If you blog about this important meeting -- please use the #OERU tag).

2011 will be a quantum shift year for the mainstream adoption of OER.

Cheers
Wayne
Wayne Mackintosh , Ph.D.
Director OER Foundation
Director, International Centre for Open Education,
Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand.
Founder and elected Community Council Member, Wikieducator
Skype: WGMNZ1
identi.ca

Health Literacy: A Public Health concern? 1-day Conference, Manchester, UK

Venue: Chancellors Hotel and Conference Centre (Manchester)

Friday 10th June 2011

Join us for our first national Health Literacy Research Conference.

Health literacy is -

‘the cognitive and social skills which determine the motivation and ability of individuals to gain access to, understand, and use information in ways which promote and maintain good health’.

We welcome applications for oral presentation or posters on Health Literacy research and development. The abstract submission guidelines are available from the website http://www.healthliteracy.org.uk/

or Lucy McDonald: mcdonall AT lsbu.ac.uk

The conference will include 2 plenary sessions with international health literacy

keynote speakers and a panel discussion.

Cost: £60 per day

My source: Lucy McDonald

h2cm: philosophy of science - analytical AND dialectical Refinetti, R. (1989).

"For centuries, philosophers have discussed whether knowledge progresses analytically or dialectically. In the Cartesian tradition of starting with simple concepts and then building up more complex concepts [4], the idea of science as a gradual accumulation of small pieces of knowledge was put forward by Auguste Comte [5]. This constitutes an analytical view of the progress of knowledge. On the other hand, Hegel proposed that knowledge grows as a whole, so that contradictions between opposing ideas are solved (and disperse pieces of knowledge are integrated) at each stage of the dialectical progress of knowledge [6]. This constitutes a dialectical view of the progress of knowledge.

The partial correctness of both the analytical view of Comte and the dialectical view of Hegel have been acknowledged for many years. Wisdom from both views can be found in the writings of many contemporary philosophers of science." Refinetti, R. (1989) p.583.

.... and can also be found within the structure and potential content of the Health Care Domains Model. Goethe in his own way(s) of seeing recognised the same...


Refinetti, R. (1989). Information processing as a central issue in philosophy of science, Information Processing & Management, 25, 5, 583-584.

Call for Papers: Special issue on Community Informatics for Health - Journal of Community Informatics

Abstract submissions due 14 March 2011

A special issue of the international Journal of Community Informatics (http://ci-journal.net) is going to be devoted to Health. Community Informatics (CI) is the study and the practice of enabling communities with Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs). This special issue will focus on how the social application of ICTs can empower and enable communities towards improving health. The issue is expected to be published in late 2011. The Journal of Community Informatics is a focal point for the communication of research of interest to a global network of academics, community informatics practitioners and national and multi-lateral policy makers.

The field of community informatics seeks to explore the potential of information and communication technologies and their applications for social and economic development efforts at the community level. It particularly seeks to ensure that marginalized individuals and communities can benefit from the opportunities that ICTs can provide. In the area of health, this is all the more important since those with poorer health status and poorer health outcomes are usually those with less (or no) access to ICTs, or are those who have fewer skills to make use of and benefit from ICTs.

For this special issue of the Journal on Health, we are inviting submission of original, unpublished articles. We welcome research articles, along with case studies and notes from the field. All research articles will be double blind peer-reviewed. Insights and analytical perspectives from practitioners and policy makers in the form of notes from the field or case studies are also encouraged - these will not be peer-reviewed.

Please read the full Call for Papers and more specific information on the intended 'flavour' of the issue at: http://www.flinders.edu.au/medicine/sites/southgate/research/projects/digital-tech-health/

Guest editors:

*  Lareen Newman PhD, Southgate Institute for Health Society & Equity, Flinders University - Australia
*  Ali Al Sanousi MD, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre, Riyadh - Saudi Arabia

Contact for queries and abstract submissions:  lareen.newman AT flinders.edu.au

IMPORTANT DATES
Deadline for abstracts: 14 March 2011
Notification of successful abstracts:  9 May 2011
Deadline for submission of full papers/articles: 31 August 2011
Estimated publication date: November 2011

----------------------------------------
Dr Lareen Newman, DipEurLangs (Hons), BA (Hons), PhD
Senior Research Fellow
Southgate Institute for Health Society & Equity
Flinders University - Adelaide, South Australia
Personal page: http://www.flinders.edu.au/people/lareen.newman
Program page: http://flinders.edu.au/medicine/sites/southgate/
CRICOS Provider Number: 00114A

Additional link: h2cm in community informatics ....
Jones, P. (2004) The Four Care Domains: Situations Worthy of Research. Conference: Building & Bridging Community Networks: Knowledge, Innovation & Diversity through Communication, Brighton, UK.

Dementia care: communication in nursing homes

In nursing home liaison the importance of communication quickly asserts itself (as it does throughout health and social care). As an organisation effective communication is evident (or should be) at all levels:

• Corporate: across the 'group'
• Management: within the home
• Clinical: continuity of care between shifts, days - nights
• Care staff and residents - especially those with challenging behaviour
• The care home (staff), relatives and community

This week and as also recognised for colleagues in the future, my role will focus on education. In particular reviewing the background, theory and practice of communication with people who are more severely disabled by this condition. I've sixteen slides as a guide, a lesson plan but I will be using a flipchart (arriving early to scribble away) with the intent to engage the audience. Given my pre-occupation with information I want to mix and match as follows:

1. Use information as a central concept, not technically but personally as per self-awareness, knowledge and orientation, person-centred care.
2. Have people contemplate communication in a practical sense.
3. Finally, obviously ensure that what is discussed and shared is directly related to their work, the care needs and challenges of the residents (and families?).

On the information front I'm sure I can employ the conventional and simplified communication model:

SENDER - channel - RECEIVER

This may appear mechanistic but it's an effective way to highlight the real difference that Health Care Support Workers - and indeed family and friends can make to resident's lives. Referring to this model I can demonstrate the very upsetting inequalities that are often found here. The audience can contrast themselves as SENDER and RECEIVER with each other and in care scenarios.

We will identify and acknowledge the deficits that people living with dementia must contend with and endure. This is to review previous learning and ensure staff fully appreciate the care situation. More positively the session will stress the role of staff as builders and agents of personalised care with a great contribution to make.

1. They can consider (critically) the care environment - yes the 'home' - as the source of potential noise. 
2. When there is an imbalance in the capabilities, comprehension and meaning between SENDER and RECEIVER skilled, insightful, and patient staff can compensate, addressing the person's unique needs.

If there are matters that cannot be resolved then these 'risks to person-centred care' should be carried forward to management: a prescription that must be repeated as necessary. With the purported high rate of staff turnover in homes (is that a myth - what are the figures really?) they should be able to leverage these FFIs - frequent first impressions - from new staff, before they are also part of the furniture.

Allied with this is a request for support in person-centred care. For me these two go together and it's good that this 2nd session follows tomorrow. This is an opportunity to introduce the Health Care Domains Model and build upon the points raised and factor in the questions and issues raised by the staff.

Critically across all these layers of comms is: Leadership. A key part of that of course is recognising training needs and pursuing change.