Abstract
Nursing Now is a 3-year global campaign (2018-2020) to improve health by raising the profile and status of nursing. Nurses are urged to use their knowledge and skills to the fullest and be leaders and decision makers to provide quality health care.
In 2018, the Nursing Now Campaign was established as a collaborative effort by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Council of Nurses (ICN). It is run by a board comprised of nurses and non-nurses from 16 different countries. This 3-year global campaign (2018-2020) “aims to improve health by raising the profile and status of nursing worldwide” (WHO, 2018, para. 1). Nurses are urged to assume leadership roles in providing new models of care, care that is “more community and home-based, more holistic and people-centered, with increasing focus on prevention and making better use of technology” (Nursing Now, n.d.-b, para. 2). The official U.S. launch site of Nursing Now is the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing and IntraHealth International. However, activities are happening around the Nursing Now Campaign in more than 40 countries.
The Nursing Now Campaign is based on five core areas: Ensuring that nurses and midwives have a more prominent voice in health policy-making; encouraging greater investment in the nursing workforce; recruiting more nurses into leadership positions; conducting research that helps determine where nurses can have the greatest impact; and sharing of best nursing practices. (WHO, 2018, para. 2)
The campaign will come to a close in 2020 on the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth, and will be a celebration of nurses globally. It is hoped that five main goals will be achieved:
Greater investment in improving education, professional development, standards, regulation, and employment conditions for nurses.
Increased and improved dissemination of effective and innovative practice in nursing.
Greater influence for nurses and midwives on global and national health policy, as part of broader efforts to ensure health workforces are more involved in decision making.
More nurses in leadership positions and more opportunities for development at all levels.
More evidence for policy and decision makers about where nursing can have the greatest impact, what is stopping nurses from reaching their full potential, and how to address these obstacles. (Nursing Now, n.d.-a, para. 4)
The Nursing Now Campaign is based on the findings of the 2016 United Kingdom Triple Impact report. According to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global Health (2016), nurses must be able “to work to their full potential if countries are to achieve universal health coverage” (p. 5). The Triple Impact report is similar to the recommendations of the 2010 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, for nurses to practice to the full scope of their education and training and assume leadership positions in national organizations, grassroots task forces, and consumer-based coalitions (IOM, 2010). In addition, nurses should assume leadership positions and become full partners, with physicians and other health care professionals, in redesigning health care in the United States (IOM, 2010).
Nursing Now is relevant to occupational and environmental health nurses because they play a pivotal role in delivering health and safety programs and services to workers, worker populations, and community groups (American Association of Occupational Health Nurse [AAOHN], n.d.). Occupational and environmental health nurses are often the only licensed health professional in the workplace and meet the needs of diverse workers who have a variety of health and safety concerns. As recognized leaders, occupational and environmental health nurses design, implement, and evaluate health promotion and disease prevention programs to improve overall worker health status and productivity across the age continuum. They are strategic business partners and bring “creative, innovative health care solutions to the individual worker and the organization” (AAOHN, 2012, p. 1).
All nurses are encouraged to become involved in the Nursing Now Campaign. For more information, visit www.nursingnow.org.
Footnotes
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest and received no financial support with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.