COINN Bulletin November 2017

17 November 2017 is World Prematurity Day!  
Help raise awareness of the dangers of preterm birth.

World Prematurity Day on 17 November is one of the most important days in the year to raise
awareness of the challenges and burden of preterm birth globally. The day was initiated by EFCNI
and collaborating European parent organisations in 2008. The typical socksline and purple lightings
have become symbols of World Prematurity Day. The purple colour in the visual identity stands for sensitivity and exceptionality.

The date 17 November was chosen at the first  EFCNI Parent Organisations Meeting in Rome,
Italy. That day, one of the founding members of EFCNI became proud father of a daughter, after having lost his triplets due to preterm birth. A new awareness day was born. In 2010, the US organisation March of Dimes, the African organisation LittleBigSouls, the Australian National Premmie Foundation, and EFCNI joined together across continents to celebrate this special day. Meanwhile, countless individuals and organisations, from more than 100 countries join forces with activities, special events and commit to action to help address preterm birth and improve the situation of preterm babies and their families. We very much appreciate the longstanding support and commitment of COINN for World Prematurity Day.

This year’s global theme “Let them thrive!” focuses on the care for preterm infants and therefore perfectly corresponds to the scopes of COINN. Respectful care encompasses mothers, babies, and families as a unit, from pre-pregnancy through labour, delivery, and care of the child. In line with this topic, the global community will highlight the value of respectful care for preterm babies and their families provided by nurses and doctors. Everyone is warmly invited to join the global theme and to celebrate World Prematurity Day with activities or events. No matter how much time, money or manpower you are able to spare – even with simple things you can make a difference!

For more information:
– EFCNI website: www.efcni.org/worldprematurityday
– Editorial (2016). The unfinished agenda of preterm births. The Lancet, 388(10058), 2323.
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(16)32170-5/abstract
– Resources and information on the global theme: bit.ly/WPD-2017-Global
Contribution by: Judith Eckstein Head of Communications
Picture: World Prematurity Day logo © EFCNI
Caring for the Caregiver: Resiliency for the Healthcare Provider: A Webinar

In honor of Prematurity Awareness Month, the March of Dimes is partnering with Pampers in hosting a free webinar taking place on Thursday, November 16th from 3-4 pm EST. The webinar has three main objectives:

1. Explaining the difference between compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue, and how those can impact professional quality of life.
2. Identifying three symptoms of compassion fatigue experienced by healthcare providers, and
3. describing three techniques for improving and maintaining a healthy, professional quality of life.

Full participation in this webinar will award 1.25 Continuing Nursing Education contact hours by the American Nurses Credentialing Center and 1.5 Patient Experience Education credits through the Patient Experience Institute.

For more information on premature births, and what you can do to help, visit the March of Dimes website at:https://www.marchofdimes.org/mission/prematurity-campaign.aspx

Submitted by: Laura Miller, CPXP
Managing Consultant, NICU Training Institute
NICU Innovation
*************************************************************************************************************************************
Alliance of International Global Neonatal Nurses (ALIGNN)

COINN’s Hawaii Organization – Malama O Na Keiki hosted the Inaugural 2017 Joint Regional Neonatal Nurses Institute at Wai’alae Country Club in Honolulu, Hawaii on September 28-29, 2017. This most important meeting included chief representatives from four neonatal and women’s health professional organizations. For the first time, the Academy of Neonatal Nursing (ANN), the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nursing (AWHONN), National Association of Neonatal Nurses (NANN), and  COINN along with S.T.A.B.L.E. program founder Kris Karlsen sat at the round table to discuss global and local initiatives to improve outcomes for infants, mothers and families using the power of professional nursing organizations. The outcome of this meeting was the establishment  of the Alliance of International Global Neonatal Nurses (ALIGNN) to begin strategic planning towards our common goals – quality care for newborns, mothers and families and better education for neonatal nurses worldwide.

PARTNERSHIP
A new partnership with Chiesi Foundation, Parma, Italy was announced last August.  Institutional Review Board approval was just received this November and the research launched to examine the skills and knowledge of neonatal nurses in Rwanda. This pilot research study led by Dr. Sue Prullage and Mr. Andre Ndayambaje with help from Dr. Marina Boykova will commence in the Fall of 2017. Many neonatal nurses have no opportunities for formal training as neonatal nurses nor do they have opportunities for training on equipment and procedures done in the neonatal units.  COINN wants to validate what training neonatal nurses have and what do they want to have. The development of a set of neonatal nursing competencies are needed to describe the work neonatal nurses do and to evaluate educational needs. As you can see this work will not be easy but is important if recognition for the neonatal specialization is to be part of the global nursing community.

jENS and Board Meeting
COINN once again participated in The Joint European Neonatal Societies (jENS) meetings. The Joint European Neonatal Societies held its second meeting in Venice, Italy 30/10/2017 through 04/11/2017. Neonatologists, neonatal nurses and parents gathered to share their perceptions and scientific studies. COINN was honored to hold a COINN Global session and hold our Annual General Membership (AGM) meeting in this most historic city.  During the AGM we said goodbye to Dr. Karen New, COINN’s secretary who will be serving as a consultant/advisor to the board in the year to come.  Dr. Sue Prullage is our new Secretary and we welcomed two new board members.  Tracey Jones and Judy Hitchcock.  Dr. Jones works at the University of Manchester in the UK and is a neonatal nurse from New Zealand.  Welcome to our new board members!
On the photo: COINN board members in Venice:  Karen Walker, Debbie O’Donough, Carole Kenner, Karen New, Agnes van den Hoogen, and Julia Petty.

************************************************************************************************************
Next COINN conference to be held in May 2019 – and  we are headed to New Zealand! Please join us there. Click on the image below to find out more about our preparations. Do not forget to watch a beautifulvideo!

***********************************************************************************************************
Don’t forget ADOPT A NEONATAL NURSE program  to help those nurses who cannot afford to join COINN. If you are involved internationally and know a nurse or a group of nurses in a country where no neonatal nursing specialty or organization exists but people are passionate and willing to join COINN, please inform us – we will be glad to help. Please consider donating to COINN – we raise funds this way to support nurses who want to be a part of our global neonatal community.

***************************************************************************************************

COINN membership dues – cost of membership in COINN will remain at $1.00 USD.  So JOIN COINN! 

Carole Kenner, PhD, RN, FAAN, FNAP, ANEF
President & CEO

UPDATES

The Brazilian Society of Pediatric Nurses (SOBEP) realized the VII Brazilian Conference of Pediatric and Neonatal Nursing, from September 30^th to October 3rd, 2017, in São Paulo, Brazil. The event received more than a thousand nurses from Brazil and other countries, such as Colombia, Peru, Chile, Cuba and Portugal. At this time, we celebrated the 21^st anniversary of SOBEP! So, the core theme was“21 Years of SOBEP: Pediatric and Neonatal Nurses in the Leadership of Quality of Care for Children and Families.” 
The Conference provided spaces for neonatal and pediatric nursing to celebrate the past and point the future, creating opportunities to share their expertise, reflecting and debating about the best practices. The scientific program was grounded on the best and current evidences, to guide clinical practice, research and education in this area.
Renowned international and national lecturers in pediatric and neonatal areas spoke at the Conference: Dr. Franco Carnevale from McGill University (Canada); Dr. Monique van Dijik from Erasmus MC – Sophia Children (Rotterdam – Netherlands); Dr Margareth Angelo from University of São Paulo (Brazil); Dr Mavilde LG Pedreira from Federal University of São Paulo (Brazil); Dr. Anna Maria Chiesa – University of São Paulo (Brazil); Dr. Lucila Castanheira Nascimento – University of São Paulo – Ribeirão Preto (Brazil); Dr. Neusa Colett – Federal University of Paraíba, among other important personalities in neonatal and pediatric nurses.
The congress discussed themes as “Listening the children voices”; “Implementation Science: nursing practices based on evidences”; social and clinic impact of emerging and reemerging infection in Brazil”; “The use of nursing care systematized as a tool to empowerment of pediatric nurses” “Ethical dilemmas of pediatric nurses”; Non-pharmacological interventions to diminish pain em newborns and children, among other important issues.
More than 820 abstracts were accepted for poster and oral presentation!

Board of director’s from SOBEP in the Conference – from left to right: Luciana, Andréia, Lidiane, Beatriz, Myriam, Elisa, Eliane, Margareth and Viviane.

Reported by:
Andreia Cascaes Cruz – 1st Secretary of SOBEP – Member of COINN
Beatriz Rosana Gonçalves de Oliveira Toso – vice president of SOBEP

***************************************************************************************************************
COINN SURVEY
COINN is conducting a survey about neonatal nursing competencies throughout the world.  We need more input from our members.  Please answer a five item survey. Thank you.

COINN’s New Public Health Intern

Journey as a COINN Intern
Emi Delucia, Public Health student, The College of New Jersey
As a public health student, I was tasked with finding an internship placement for the fall semester of my senior year.  Over the summer I corresponded with my advisor asking for her help in finding a placement.  I told her about my interest in international health care initiatives and my general interests in humanitarian causes.  She put me in contact with Dr. Carole Kenner to talk about a possible internship at her organization COINN.  I was confused at first, what does neonatal nursing have to do with pubic health?  Would I have to look hard for connections?  I was also very nervous, I knew virtually nothing about the nursing profession and I was going to be working directly with the COINN’s President.  After my first conversation with Dr. Kenner I realized that COINN is the bridge between neonatal nursing and international public health.  I also leaned that the scope of work that they do is incredibly vast, interconnected, and different for each country.  It was overwhelming for me but I wanted to start by learning the basics about the nursing profession.

The availability of quality neonatal nursing and nursing in general is imperative for global health equity.  There is no healthcare without workers who provide the care.  Nurses provide the largest percentage of direct care both preventative and curative.  Nurses know their patients and their families at a greater level than their doctors.  They see the needs of the patients and families that may be overlooked through a health care system that does not care about individuals.  The value of nurses in the health care system is apparent in that there is a global nursing shortage.  This shortage has many causes related to public health including an aging population and increased rates of chronic disease.  I learned that the level of respect nurses receive is incredibly variable based on country.  In certain countries, they are largely excluded in the decision making for the care of the patients they work so closely.  In certain countries nurses are well respected and appreciated for their work.  According to a BBC poll, nurses are the second most respected profession after doctors (BBC.co.uk).  Likewise, in an annual survey, “the Australian public has voted nurses to be the most honest and trustworthy professionals for 21 years in a row>” (Roy Morgan).  These differences are largely related to the varied educational standards among the nursing profession.  Globally, nurses continue to be prepared through secondary schools, hospitals, technical institutions, colleges, and universities with some countries requiring more training than others.  For example, in Rwanda prior to 2007 a student was certified by the Minister of Education as a nurse by completing 4 years of secondary school education and earning a predetermined overall grade (Roxburgh, Taylor, & Murebwayire, 2009).  The difference in the level of education and respect nurses receive is a poignant representation of global health disparities.  This issue is incredibly relevant to my course of study.  Public Health aims to improve health on a societal level but COINN is an organization that does this on a much broader scale.  Learning about and trying to comprehend all of what the organization does has made me consider how entire governments, economies, and cultures impact public health.  The more I learned about what they do the more complicated it became.  The logistics of running such an operation requires global networks, affiliations with other organizations, leadership with expertise and passion on the subject, and more.  These important elements cannot be bough, every conference, or event that COINN participates in is an opportunity to acquire such connections, and each new connection comes with benefits and responsibilities.  Hearing about Dr. Kenner’s passion for the issue and her experiences made me understand why this is an urgent global health crisis that needs more attention than it has received.  One story in particular that shocked me was of her experience in a neonatal unit in India.  She told me of a unit that had a ratio of 75 babies to 1 nurse.  Most troubling, the babies were all very sick (intermediate care) with most requiring IV’s and medications.  The nurses worked hard and did their best but of course babies would die every day because staffing was grossly under what it should have been.  Dr. Kenner described the nurses as being angry and frustrated with the system as their voice was not being hear.  This story is just an example of the urgent need to change global inequalities in the health care of all people, but especially for such a vulnerable population as newborns.  I believe that COINN is making a difference in the correct way, by going to these sites, seeing what needs to be done, and learning from local health care professionals and citizens.

References
Roxburgh, M., Taylor, J., & Murebwayire, M.  (2009).  Rwanda:  A thousand hills, a thousand dreams, a thousand challenges for nurses and midwives and the Millennium Development Goals.  Nurse education in Practice, 9(6), 349-350.
British Broadcasitng Company (BBC) in UK.  (2002, May 29).  Doctors and nurses “most respected.  Retrieved November 9, 2017, from:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2014128.stm

Donate with ease
Amazon Smile
If you purchase items from Amazon, please consider using smile.amazon.com  For every eligible purchase from Amazon Smile, a 0.5% donation will be made to COINN.  All you have to do is sign in to Amazon Smile and select COINN as the organization for your donation.  This is the same Amazon as the regular amazon site but through this portal charitable donations are made.

After her baby was born at 24 weeks gestation in 2014, Kirsten Mitchell encountered a difficult time following the discharge of her son from neonatal care. From that she created Spoons to help provide peer support in the form of emotional support and practical advice. With other parents from the unit joining her, the Spoons became a registered charity in 2016.

• Support: They support all families that have experienced neonatal care, including parents who have experienced a bereavement.
• Fundraiser Goals: Fundraisers are used to improve services and facilities for families experiencing neonatal care.
• Patient Experience: Spoons aims to raise awareness of neonatal care and work closely with healthcare professionals to improve patient experiences.
• Family Integrated Care Model: Spoons has a special interest in the Family Integrated Care model and is working with neonatal units to include this.

• Social Media: In addition to the website, check out Spoons on social media at Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/spoonscharity/) as well as on Twitter (https://twitter.com/SpoonsCharity)

Professional Tip:
Looking for a solid support resource for your families?  Like many NICUs and SCBUs, you should consider recommending the free and privacy-focused Inspire Preemie Community (https://preemie.inspire.com).  Moderated by PreemieWorld’s Deb Discenza, this group boasts over 40,000 parents of preemies globally and has active discussion “rooms” such as “In the NICU/PICU”; “Fathers of Preemies” “Preemies with CP” and “Preemies with Feeding Issues” and “At Home, Years 1-5” and At Home, Years 6-12” and more.

ABOUT DEB DISCENZA:
Deb Discenza is the mother of a former 30-weeker girl now 14 years old.  Deb is the co-author of the critically-acclaimed book The Preemie Parent’s Survival Guide to the NICU available at www.PreemieWorld.com  

Upcoming NANN Initiatives 
Join the National Association of Neonatal Nurses (NANN) Delegation to Vietnam! 

Convening in Hanoi, Vietnam on March 3, 2018, NANN delegates will have the opportunity to enjoy this beautiful country while having an intercultural nursing experience with their Vietnamese colleagues. The program will conclude on March 10. 2018 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Don’t miss this once in a lifetime experince!

Enroll by December 3, 2017 at :

http://nann.org/professional-development/vietnam-delegation

13th Annual NANN Research Summit 

Join NANN for the next Research Summit in Scottsdale, Arizona, April 10-12, 2018 by submitting a Research proposal or Evidence-Based Practice change project you have implemented or are planning to implement and complete by early Spring 2018.

Learn more and submit your proposal by November 1, 2017 at:

http://nann.org/education/research/research-summit
NANN 2018 Call for Abstracts

The National Association of Neonatal Nurses (NANN) Program Planning

Committee would like to invite you to submit an abstract to present at its 34th Annual Confeence in Anaheim, California, October 17-20, 2018. 

Learn more and submit your abstract by December 18, 2017 at:

http://nann.org/education/annual-meeting/abstracts

Submitted by: Molly Anderson
Senior Manager, Marketing and Membership