Abstract
This May we celebrate not only International Nurses’ Day on May 12th but also 50 years since that day was established as a way of celebrating nurses and nursing. Here, at JRN, we wish all our profession well, and thank you for your expertise, commitment and courage to provide care wherever you work.
The theme of International Nurses’ Day this year is ‘The economic power of care’. The focus will be on the need to ‘reshape perceptions, demonstrating how strategic investment in nursing can bring considerable economic and societal benefits’ (https://www.icn.ch/how-we-do-it/campaigns/international-nurses-day). For several years, JRN’s editorials have focused on this area, emphasising nurses’ vital role, individually and collectively, in providing health- and social-care across the world. Our editorials have lamented financial underinvestment, drawn attention to moral distress and moral injury and shown how investment through research can shape care, improve nurses’ working lives and develop nursing as a whole. JRN’s strapline – connecting policy, practice and research – certainly continues to be pertinent to today’s world.
JRN (originally NTResearch) has been at the forefront of growing, and commentating on, nursing’s body of knowledge since 1996. The last decade has seen a surge in nurses undertaking research about practice and the context within which practice occurs. We have reported on nursing innovations, evaluations of care, career structures for nurses who wish to stay close to care whilst undertaking research, and the impact of changes to the structure of the workforce. JRN has also brought readers various Perspectives on nurses’ working lives. These latter ‘stories’ shed light on the realities of care, leadership, education and research. Knowing the breadth and depth of the nursing contribution enables nurses – including those who represent nursing in politics and organisational hierarchies – to articulate the positive effects of nursing for individuals, communities and populations, to shift care away from outdated practices and to argue for resources being placed where they will impact. All too often this contribution is undervalued, misrepresented, lacking in evaluated substance or simply not recognised.
In this issue of JRN, we are pleased to expand the international knowledge base of nursing a little more by featuring the work and commentaries of authors from China, Ireland, Turkey, Malaysia, England and Scotland. The topics covered are as diverse as the countries represented; they include pharmacovigilance, barriers to seeking psychological support in nurses exposed to COVID-19, patients’ self-confidence in intermittent catheterisation, patients’ experiences of living with and coping with haemodialysis, and intensive-care nurses’ compassion, patience and attitudes towards older people. The issue closes with Kath Williamson’s Perspectives piece on caring for people living with severe obesity.
JRN celebrates nursing research each year through the ‘Veronica Bishop Paper of the Year’. This award is given to the most innovative and timely paper connecting policy, practice and research that we publish the previous year. The prize-winning paper also has the potential to make a real difference. Papers are nominated by JRN readers, the shortlist is decided by the Editorial Board and the winner is selected by an independent, international judging panel. Now is the time for you to select papers from our 2023 collection. Please see https://forms.gle/28kX6QVuzPZSHFR9A for more details, and if you are interested in reading previous winning papers please go to https://journals-sagepub-com-s.web.bisu.edu.cn/page/jrn/collections/virtual-special-issues/jrn-veronica-bishop-award
Finally, we congratulate three JRN prize winners selected at the recent Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland’s Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery international conference on Changing Landscapes of Health. We awarded the best paper prize to Anita Byrne for her paper on the Longitudinal Impact of an Irish Interdisciplinary Perinatal Mental Health Programme. There were two poster prizes, selected by conference goers. One went to Alice Hoffmeister, Teresa McCreery, Katie Cosgrove, Jean Doherty, Amanda O’Connor, Sharon Egan and Sarah Cullen for their work on the impact of affirmation cards during pregnancy, birth and postnatally. The other was won by Paddy McTeague, Martin McNamee, Patricia Hamilton, James Ruddy, Paddy Ruddy, Matthew McLaughlin and Kevin McLaughlin for their work co-producing a physical and mental well-being programme for people with intellectual disability. These prize winners and topics truly reflect the breadth of work that JRN promotes and celebrates.