Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Nurses Leading Primary Health Care
INTERNATIONAL NURSES DAY 2008
All rights, including translation into other languages, reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced in print, by photostatic
means or in any other manner, or stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form, or sold without the express written permission of
the International Council of Nurses. Short excerpts (under 300 words)
may be reproduced without authorisation, on condition that the source is
indicated.
Copyright © 2008 by ICN International Council of Nurses,
3, place JeanMarteau, 1201 Geneva, Switzerland
ISBN: 9789295065321
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1: Primary Health Care: What is it and Where are We Today? 1
Chapter 2: On the Ground: Nurses Delivering Primary Health Care 7
Chapter 4: Looking Ahead 25
Annexes
Annex 3: Bibliography 33
Delivering Quality, Serving Communities
Nurses Leading Primary Health Care
Dear Colleagues,
Primary health care is back on the global health agenda and nursing is leading the
way in ensuring the active participation of citizens and communities in addressing
health issues and accessing appropriate health services. You may wonder where you
as a nurse fit in to primary health care delivery. Consider the questions below
and you will most likely see yourself directly involved with primary health care.
Do you:
v work in an emergency room, health centre, outpatient department, nursing
home, school, refugee camp, STD clinic, nursing school, research or any of
the myriad settings nurses are helping communities and individuals deal with
health challenges?
v talk with people about lifestyle issues, how to avoid illness, how to ensure
their water supply is safe, about their immunisation, etc?
v work with pregnant women, the elderly, or other special needs groups to
identify service needs and solutions?
v supervise or deliver homebased care?
v work with a faithbased or nongovernmental organisation that focuses on
development and global health?
v bring services to marginalised communities such as street people or sex
workers?
Then you are practicing primary health care (PHC).
This International Nurses Day Kit celebrates and illuminates the nursing role in
primary health care. It is for all nurses – in all settings – and for planners, policy
makers, educators, managers, regulators, researchers, national nurses associations
and any other stakeholder committed to delivering quality care and serving
communities through primary health care.
The following pages analyse the evolution of primary health care, articulate nursing
roles, highlight many examples of nurses delivering primary health care and provide
a glimpse into the future. We hope they will help you see where you are leading and
where and how you might further lead in strengthening PHC and serving your
community – whether it is a community of the public or a practice, education,
research or management community within the profession. It is only by serving our
communities that we can deliver quality health outcomes for the individuals, families
and communities we care for.
Hiroko Minami Judith A. Oulton
President Chief Executive Officer
CHAPTER 1
Primary Health Care: What is It
and Where are We Today?
Primary health care (PHC) is the first level of contact with the national health system
for individuals, families and the community, bringing health care as close as possible
to where people live and work.
This year the World Health Organization (WHO) marks 60 years of service to
humanity and 60 years of affiliation with ICN. It also marks 30 years since the goal of
universal access to health services through primary health care was enshrined by
WHO and member states in the Declaration of AlmaAta, which highlighted the
“gross inequality in the health status of the people particularly between developed
and developing countries as well as within countries,” 1 To address this, WHO
focused on PHC as the key to attaining the goals of its 1977 strategy Health for All
by the Year 2000. Fifteen years later governments reconfirmed this at Riga.
In 2008 primary health care is again high on the global health agenda. ICN is
celebrating nursing’s leadership and advocating for greater nursing involvement in
PHC, the key strategy to achieving universal access and better health for the world’s
people.
What have we learned?
When we embraced PHC in 1978 we saw it as the optimal route for improving health
and addressing the enormous challenges facing health care systems. As we plan
ahead, it is useful to take stock of and learn from our successes and failures.
While there has been progress in the past few decades in global health, the health
gains have not benefited everyone. There are everwidening inequalities in the
burden of disease and in access to care, both between and within countries, whether
industrialised or developing.
1
WHO/UNICEF (1978), “Declaration of AlmaAta”, International Conference on Primary health care,
AlmaAta, USSR 612, September 1978. Geneva: WHO/UNICEF.
1
However, some health outcomes have improved significantly. Many diseases, such
as measles and poliomyelitis, have been better controlled; others, such as small pox,
have been eradicated. Immunisation rates in most countries have increased — in
some developing countries up to 80%. Worldwide there is a significant decline in
infant and child mortality and a substantial increase in life expectancy. Between
1960 and 1995, life expectancy in lowincome countries increased by 22 years and in
developed countries by 8 years. PHC — together with economic and technological
advances, and targeted disease funding — contributed extensively to these health
gains. However, since then the AIDS pandemic has tragically reversed this increase
in life expectancy in subSaharan Africa.
And 30 years later it has become increasingly apparent that a hospitalbased,
curative approach to health care services cannot meet the health needs of
populations. The paradigm shift from hospitalbased to communitybased health
services is well underway, but critical challenges remain.
The Millennium Development Goals
While international support for primary health care appeared to waver during the
1990s, the focus returned more sharply in 2000 with the global agreement on the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs are a set of timebound (by
2015) and measurable goals and targets for combating poverty, hunger, disease,
illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against women.
"I do not believe we will be able to reach the Millennium Development Goals
unless we return to the values, principles, and approaches of primary health
care... Decades of experience tell us that primary health care is the best
route to universal access, the best way to ensure sustainable improvements
in health outcomes, and the best guarantee that access to care will be fair."
Dr Margaret Chan, Director General, World Health Organization, 2007
We are now at the halfway mark toward the MDG target and progress is not on
track. To help meet the current challenges, a renewed commitment to PHC
internationally and nationally is essential.
2
Further challenges facing global health
Today a number of key forces — poverty, increased globalization, climate change,
political unrest — affect health and contribute to challenges in service planning and
delivery. These challenges shape the environments in which nurses are delivering
PHC and include:
v The rising costs of health care
v Increasing consumer expectations and demands
v Changing demographics and ageing populations
v Nursing and other health worker shortages
v Legislation and/or political will to fully utilise nursing’s potential
v Social conflict and unrest which destabilise services and constrain resources
v Natural and manmade disasters
v Endemic and pandemic disease, as well as new and reemerging ones
v The surge in chronic diseases
v Making the shift to communitybased care.
Many of these global health issues are not new. They are the cumulative effect of
past policy and practice. To be better able to create and deliver effective PHC and
other services, we need to understand the effects of these factors on overall health
delivery and outcomes.
“International evidence suggests that health systems based on a strong PHC
orientation have better and more equitable health outcomes, are more efficient, have
lower health care costs, and can achieve higher user satisfaction than those whose
2
health systems have only a weak PHC orientation.”
2
Pan American Health Organization (2007). Renewing Primary Health Care in the Americas:
A Position Paper of the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO).
Washington, D.C: PAHO.
3
Defining primary health care today
Primary health care is essential health care based on practical, scientifically sound
and socially acceptable methods and technology, made universally accessible to
individuals and families in the community through their full participation, and at a cost
that the community and country can afford. It forms an integral part of any country’s
health system. (www.paho.org/English/DD/PIN/almaata_declaration.htm)
At the broadest level, PHC includes all services that play a part in health, such as
income, housing, education, and environment. It also includes primary care, i.e. the
diagnosis and treatment of illness and injury. And it includes the critical elements of
health promotion and prevention of illness and injury. One of its greatest strengths is
citizen participation in needs identification and service delivery and in bringing these
services as close to people as possible.
Core Principles
Today we talk about four principles of primary health care. In Chapter 2 we will
examine the principles more closely and provide examples of how nurses lead
through application of these principles.
2. Community participation in defining and implementing health
agendas. The public should be encouraged and empowered to participate
in planning and making decisions about their own health care.
4
Strengthening PHC to improve health outcomes
Globally, there has been considerable uptake of PHC since 1978. Individual
countries and regions have made considerable effort to learn the lessons regarding
implementing and strengthening PHC and to adapt the principles and elements to
their own setting. The conceptual framework from PAHO shown in Figure 1 3 is a
good example of how one region has done this.
Figure 1: Proposed values, principles, and elements of a PHC–based health system
Reprinted with permission from PAHO.
Strategies to develop or further strengthen PHCbased health systems will require
concerted efforts from health professionals, citizens, government, civil society,
multilateral and bilateral agencies, and others. Nurses can, do and should play a
leading role, aided by lessons already learned.
The following chapters outline how nurses can and do serve communities by leading
PHC and what needs to be in place to support their central role.
3
Pan American Health Organization (2007). Renewing Primary Health Care in the Americas: A
Position Paper of the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO).
Washington, D.C: PAHO
5
6
CHAPTER 2
On the Ground with Nurses
Delivering Care
Nursing practice is the very essence of primary health
The ICN Definition of Nursing.
care. Our education, experience and the settings where
Nursing encompasses
we work make it so. Nurses deliver services wherever
autonomous and collaborative
people are found: in homes, schools, workplaces,
care of individuals of all ages,
prisons, health and wellness clinics, and other families, groups and
community settings, as well as in hospitals and research communities, sick or well and in
centres. In virtually all countries, nurses constitute the all settings. Nursing includes the
largest health care provider group. Nurses are also promotion of health, prevention
critical to the training and supervision of other personnel, of illness, and the care of ill,
and to the planning, organisation, monitoring and disabled and dying people.
Advocacy, promotion of a safe
evaluation of PHC services. 4
environment, research,
participation in shaping health
But just what does this all look like ‘on the ground’,
policy and in patient and health
where nurses are applying the four core principles of
systems management, and
primary health care: 1) equitable and universally education are also key nursing
accessible health care, 2) community participation, 3) roles.
intersectoral coordination, 4) appropriate technology?
Equitable and universally accessible health care
Health services must be shared equally by all people irrespective of their ability to
pay and all (rich or poor, urban or rural) must have access to health services.
4
ICN (1988). Nursing and Primary Health Care: A Unified Force. Geneva: ICN.
7
South Africa — Nurses work as clinic managers and practitioners at township
clinics that are visited by 200 to 300 patients a day. They supervise staff
including junior nurses, health promoters and volunteers. Nurses take histories
and perform physical examinations and, where there is no physician, they provide
comprehensive care, including prescribing medications. On scheduled days
nurses travel in a specially equipped van to take health care to the people. At
other times they meet with township committees associated with the clinic.
Korea — In Korea’s rural areas community health nurse practitioners run the
local health centres where they give health education and counselling, manage
diseases, immunise, provide school health, and care for the elderly at home.
Nurses utilise community resources to address family and individual problems.
People can call after hours with urgent concerns and nurses are there to
respond.
Spain — Nurses provide family nursing care for 1500 people in their catchment
area, many of whom are elderly. They work in the clinic for most of the day,
doing well baby checks, assessing patients with chronic illness, and holding
scheduled appointments. At the end of the day, they make home visits to chronic
and terminally ill patients, and elderly people who are unable to come to the
clinic.
WHO European Region — The Euro region is promoting use of a community
based, family health nurse (FHN) who cares for the entire family. The well
prepared family nurse is seen as part of a multidisciplinary health care team and
is at the core of strengthening PHC services. 5
Several countries in the WHO European Region have familyfocused community
programmes with nurses. Examples include nursing care centres, polio clinics,
school programmes for teenage reproductive health, alcohol and tobacco
prevention programmes, family midwives, home health visits to children and the
elderly, PHC centres in cities and rural areas, practice models with one nurse for
a population of 2000 inhabitants, programmes for HIV prevention and national
programmes for a healthy generation.
5
World Health Organization (2000). Munich Declaration. Nurses and Midwives: A Force for Health.
Copenhagen: WHO/EURO.
8
South Africa — Nurse Mpho Sebanyoni was so worried by the plight of AIDS
patients in South Africa that she quit her secure hospital job to care for them.
She walks up to 25 km per day from village to village, caring for the sick, teaching
their relatives and friends how to look after them and educating them about AIDS.
Mpho also created a homecare based project servicing 78 surrounding villages.
Over 30 volunteers now assist her in training family members in home care of
AIDS patients. In recognition of her work, Mpho was named South African
Woman of the Year in 2002.
Peru — Led by two professors, a team of nine senior nursing students from a
Philadelphia university travelled to a remote Peruvian village. Their goal was to
educate the families about health issues to improve their standards of health and
living. The nurses divided their day between visiting homes in the morning and
teaching classes in the afternoons, offering education on nutrition, disease
prevention, immunisations, sanitation, hygiene, food preparation and women’s
health issues, including breast selfexamination. In the homes, they checked
blood pressure, dressed wounds, and assisted victims of stroke, diabetes, heart
defects, and cancer by explaining how to take their medication and when to visit
doctors. They found the classes were instrumental in helping members of the
community better care for themselves by improving their daily living routines.
Community Participation
There must be a continuing effort to secure meaningful involvement of the community
in the planning, implementation and maintenance of health services, along with
maximum reliance on local resources such as human resources, money and
materials.
Malawi 6 — A team of community health nurses and environmental health
officers started a community empowerment process by working with communities
to elect village health committees and training them in leadership skills,
community mobilisation, communication and management of common health
problems. The village health committee identified its priority health problems as
diarrhoea, malnutrition and family planning. As the diarrhoea was related to
limited availability of latrines and unsafe water supply, an action plan was
6
Chinombo AM (1997). Community empowerment: A strategy for healthy communities. International
Nursing Review. Geneva: ICN.
9
mapped out that included building latrines and protecting shallow wells. The
committee also launched village feeding programmes.
Internal and external resources were mobilised to implement the action plan. For
example, health care workers solicited funds from the government to purchase
material for construction of latrines; while the community provided labour, bricks,
and other materials.
After one year the community had a protected source of water supply, almost all
the families had latrines, the feeding programmes were running and for the first
time diarrhoea was no longer a problem.
United Kingdom — An experienced public health nurse and health visitor,
Jenny works in a socially deprived area of the United Kingdom’s West Midlands.
To respond to the multiple health needs and poor mortality and morbidity record
in her community, she initiated a community development project in which the
local people identified lack of communitybased facilities for families with young
children as a major problem. Jenny then demonstrated to health managers the
need to develop more family services. From this flowed a commitment and some
resources from a few employers. Jenny used these to develop a range of
projects including family learning activities, “drop in” health sessions, and English
language classes for women. Other community members later took on the day
today running of these activities, indicating a sense of ownership and ensuring
sustainability.
She also began breakfast clubs at the local primary school that allowed children
to arrive early and have breakfast together. These not only improved the
children's nutritional status, but led to increased attendance at school. Teachers
reported that the children had greater concentration and could better apply
themselves to learning. Her projects were so successful that Jenny was later
asked to join the regional public health management team.
10
Intersectoral Coordination
Primary health care needs to involve all related sectors and aspects of national and
community development — education, industry, all health professions,
communication, housing, public works, and others.
United States — In Chicago, the Homan Square Project 7 provides a package of
PHC services, with the goal of improving the quality of life for a developing inner
city community. It is a collaborative community development effort between the
College of Nursing at Rush University and Rush Primary Care Institute, in
partnership with the North Lawndale community coalition on Chicago's West
Side. The health care services include a PHC clinic, schoolbased health
centres, family education and counselling programmes, and screening services
linking the community to secondary/tertiary care systems.
The project relies on nurse practitioner faculty in areas such as prenatal care,
women's health, school nursing, parenting skills, and mental health and provides
a unique opportunity for the interface of service delivery and academic education.
Positive outcomes centre on the types, quality, and quantity of services delivered
to the community.
Mozambique — A nurseled project in community development involved
activities to benefit women, youth and children. The goal of the initiative was to
improve women’s lives through education, use of local resources and effective
selfhelp initiatives. Coordinators from women’s groups were selected for the
training sessions in each district. Health facilities, a secondary school and a
church were used as training sites. Women who demonstrated basic literacy,
leadership skills, interpersonal relations, communication skills and problem
solving abilities were recruited from the participants as project leaders. When the
women were trained and returned to their communities they were expected to
identify “helpers”, establish an inclusive community development committee,
collaborate with the committee to establish priority needs, share pertinent
information and work together to address these needs.
7
HollingerSmith LJ, (1998). “Partners in Collaboration: The Homan Sqaure Project”, Journal of
Professional Nursing, NovDec;14(6):3449.
11
The women were designated as Promotoras (promoters) of Community
Development and Health. The Promotoras gradually assumed the
responsibilities of conducting training sessions, budgets, conducting field
supervision, and compiling reports. Evaluation results showed the project had a
positive impact on the lives of the people in the areas where the Promotoras
resided. A key lesson learned from the project was that development is like a
tree, it must grow from below upwards; it cannot be imposed from above. 8
Appropriate Technology
This principle refers to technology that is scientifically sound, adaptable to local
needs, and acceptable to those who apply it and for those by whom it is used. It also
can be maintained by the people themselves in keeping with the principle of self
reliance using the resources the community and country can afford.
Papua New Guinea — A nurseled primary health centre delivers services in a
remote area with a high rate of HIV and AIDS. The nurses identified key local
stakeholders (youth and women's groups and community leaders) in 14 villages
to increase awareness about HIV and AIDS. They use shortwave radio services
and communitybased outdoors remote broadcasting systems and local
newspapers to deliver health information and highlight services available. As well
they offer remote clinics in each village where they have set hours and days that
they visit. They also conduct workshops on HIV and AIDS and work with the
citizens on prevention and other PHC topics such as diabetes, hypertension,
prenatal care, immunisations, etc.
Following one set of workshops, 365 people came to the health centre for HIV
testing, with five testing positive. The five were referred to the general hospital
for further counselling and treatment.
Alberta, Canada — The Crowfoot Village Family Practice is a collaboration
involving five family physicians, a public health nurse and a home care nurse,
working as an integrated team to deliver high quality, responsive care for a
population of some 12,000 individuals residing in an urban area of Alberta,
Canada.
8
Ferrell BJA (2002), Community development and health project: a 5year (19951999) experience in
Mozambique, Africa. International Nursing Review. 49. 2737
12
One of the services introduced to help improve access and increase the capacity
for selfcare is Nurse Telecare, a phonebased service providing round the clock
triaging of patients and selflearning opportunities. As a result of Telecare, the
number of patients with minor ailments seen by physicians has been reduced.
An interim patient survey showed that, overall, the community was very satisfied
with the services and reportedly increased their selfcaring abilities.
United Kingdom — A nurse runs a rectal clinic in a small hospital with a
telemedicine link to a consultant physician. She consults with a physician to
confirm findings and gives the results immediately to the patient. Her clinic has
lowered costs, reduced the National Health Services’ waiting list, and speeded up
service to people who need cancer treatment quickly.
A second UK example involves the National Health Service Direct (NHS Direct);
a 24hour telephone advice line in staffed by experienced nurses. These nurses
provide advice and information to people at home so that they are better able to
care for themselves and their families.
Evaluation showed that the advice line alleviated pressure on health services by
guiding 40% of callers toward nonemergency forms of health care.
13
14
CHAPTER 3
Building, Supporting and
Sustaining the Nurse’s Role
Nursing’s commitment to primary health care is embodied in the ICN Code
of Ethics for Nurses first adopted in 1953 and regularly revised which
affirms that “nurses have four fundamental responsibilities: to promote
health, to prevent illness, to restore health and to alleviate suffering” 9 .
— ICN Code of Ethics for Nurses, 2006
In any health system based on PHC, the role of nurses figures prominently.
Historically, nursing has always been concerned with the broader determinants of
health education, income, gender, social environment, etc. In a PHCbased system
support for the full spectrum of nursing activities should be in place.
Nurses are the principal group of health personnel providing PHC. They foster and
maintain links between individuals, families, communities and the rest of the health
care system, working both autonomously and collaboratively to prevent disease and
disability, and to promote, improve, maintain and restore health. Their work
encompasses population health, health promotion, disease prevention, wellness
care, firstpointofcontact care and disease management across the lifespan.
If progress is to be made it is critical that nurses — as central figures in primary
health care delivery — engage, lead and coordinate care, and that their roles in
policy and provision be seen as legitimate and essential in all areas.
9
ICN (2006). ICN Code of Ethics for Nurses. Geneva: ICN.
15
Having nurses at the centre means:
v Improved access to care. The WHO Commission on Macroeconomics and
Health has affirmed that the highest priority for scaling up health care
coverage is at the community level through
“Nurses know the needs of children
‘closetoclient’ services that can be delivered
and families at home, at work, and at
by nurses. 10
play, while also serving as the
v Improved prevention of chronic diseases. connecting link between individuals,
Disease prevention and health promotion are families, communities and healthcare
perfect examples of the roles and expanding providers. Those qualities are why
influence of nurses. Nurses get the message nurses are the backbone of health care
out that healthy living is essential to the world over – and it is also why
sustaining, recovering and improving health. nurses are proponents of the right of
children to survival, protection, full
Nurses promote healthy diets and lifestyles;
development and participation – and
offer counselling to the confused and
fierce opponents of the unacceptable
frustrated; and help patients manage chronic
inequities that threaten those rights.”
health conditions to live longer, healthier
—Carol Bellamy, former Executive
lives. Director, UNICEF
v Improved costeffectiveness. Studies have
shown that 60 to 80 percent of primary care, traditionally delivered by
physicians, can be carried out by nurses at lower cost and with similar
outcomes.
v Improved outcomes. Examples abound of improved results from nurseled
care. NP Care is a nurse practitionerbased care delivery system operating in
longterm care settings in several American states. Since 2001, nurse
practitioners have been seeing residents with acute medical issues, reviewing
test results, evaluating wounds, communicating with families, and educating
other nursing staff. As a result hospital readmission rates have been cut up to
50% in nursing facilities that NP Care is covering. 11
v Improved surveillance. International mobility and changes in climate mean
that the need for surveillance has grown, a need reflected in the 2007
International Health Regulations (IHR) framework. As the providers most in
direct contact with the population, nurses’ role in surveillance is crucial.
10
World Health Organization (2001). Macroeconomics and health: investing in health for economic
development. Report of the Commission on Macroeconomics and Health. Geneva: WHO.
11
Email communication from Jeanette GalvezPiscioniere, MSN, APRN, Director of Clinical Services,
NP Care.
16
v Improved disaster recovery. Nurses make up the largest part of initial
disaster response and should play an even larger role in disaster recovery.
They are in direct contact with victims, prisoners, the wounded, the sick, the
displaced. Their efforts are invariably linked to gestures which consider both
the psychological and physical dimension. 12
v Improved patient compliance with care. Poor compliance or adherence
with therapies is a direct cause of poor health outcomes and nursing can
strongly impact this. Consider the following example. A group of 228 adults
with high blood cholesterol were split into two teams. One monitored by a
nurse; one not. During one year of lipid management from a nurse, the
intervention group received outpatient and telephone visits for counselling on
nutrition, medication, physical activity, lifestyle modification, and a host of
other issues. After one year the serum total cholesterol, low density
lipoprotein and triglyceride levels were significantly lower in the intervention
group. That group also reported a greater reduction in dietary consumption of
total fat, better adherence to drug therapies and more frequent exercise.
v Leveraging technology for primary health care. Through telenursing
people are able to remain in their homes or remote communities — and
communicate vital signs, test results, and concerns to nurses working across
town, or hundreds of kilometres away. Nurseled 24hour health information
telephone services provide telephone triage, advice and information about
illnesses and conditions, including support and selfhelp groups, local health
care facilities and oncall services. This service is both supportive for the
community, and costeffective for the health system, as it dramatically cuts
the number of people seeking help in hospital emergency departments.
12
Quote by Cornelio Sommaruga, President (19871999), International Committee of the Red Cross.
17
Building, Supporting and Sustaining the Nurse’s Role
“If the millions of nurses in a thousand different places articulate the
same ideas and convictions about primary health care, and come
together as one force, then they could act as a powerhouse for change”
- Halfdan Mahler, Director General, World Health Organization,1985.
Those directly delivering care must be supported by a variety of other nursing
involvement, from global to local and from health policy to resource management.
1. Internationally: The role of ICN
ICN early recognised the centrality of nursing to PHC. Its efforts to mobilise nurses
worldwide for primary health care have been consistent over decades and include
endorsement of the Declaration of AlmaAlta in 1978. In partnership with member
national nurses associations, WHO and others, ICN has worked to position nursing in
primary health care through lobbying for inclusion of PHC principles and programmes
in health provider education, in service planning and delivery, and in research.
“I attach great importance to the work of ICN, and admire its dedication to high quality
nursing and health care. Indeed, the right to health care is contained in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, and in this respect nursing and the ICN are making a
significant contribution to the work of the United Nations.”
Kofi Annan, Former United Nations SecretaryGeneral
In mobilizing nurses for PHC for the 21 st century, ICN uses a range of strategies to
enhance knowledge transfer, capacity building, dissemination of research evidence
for action, lobbying and advocacy. Through policy, special networks, competencies,
advocacy, information generation and dissemination and education ICN supports and
enhances the nursing position in PHC.
ICN’s commitment to PHC is also evident in its many projects and programmes. Its
leadership programmes – Leadership in Negotiation and Leadership in Change – are
global initiatives that prepare nurses to lead in all settings and in times of change.
Through continuous leadership and collaboration and, by engaging the nursing
18
profession in projects to strengthen primary health care, ICN represents a robust and
sustained force for strengthening the role of nurses in primary health care.
ICN Projects to Strengthen Nursing in Primary Health Care
ICN’s multifaceted projects and initiatives reach out to nurses with the aim of
strengthening nursing and contributing to health promotion, disease
prevention, care and treatment. A number of these take their inspiration from
primary health care and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Such
projects include:
· Wellness Centres for Health Workers, which provide dedicated
health services for all health care workers and their immediate
families in subSaharan countries hit hard by the health human
resources crisis and the HIV pandemic.
· Safe Water Initiative for the provision of safe water technology,
sanitation and hygiene for orphaned and vulnerable children in a
number of countries.
· The Mobile Nursing Library delivers up to date, relevant nursing
and health information to nurses in rural health facilities in developing
countries.
· TB/MDRTB Project delivering training to strengthen nursing
capacity for detection, prevention, care and treatment of TB and
MDRTB.
· Girl Child Education Fund which supports the primary and
secondary education of the orphaned daughters of nurses in
developing countries.
· ICN Girl Child Policy and Research Project which aims to mobilise
nurses for healthy development of young girls.
19
2. Nationally: The role of National Nurses Associations (NNAs)
As the national voice of nursing, NNAs represent a key force in providing leadership
for PHC, incorporating it into nursing practice and policy, as well as offering PHC
services. This leadership is critical in order to sustain PHC as the cornerstone of
health policy and to position nursing within it. NNAs can lead by:
· Facilitating collaboration with other health professional associations, health
ministries, and other relevant sectors and stakeholders.
· Working with ministries of health and others to influence national health policy
that supports nursing roles and strengthens nursing research capacity.
· Working with educational facilities to incorporate PHC into curricula.
· Facilitating exchange of experiences and information on PHC, its meaning,
elements and principles.
· Collaborating with nursing education and research centres to focus research
supporting PHC, including evidence of its costeffectiveness.
· Disseminating research results to nurses, policy makers and others.
· Offering continuing education on primary health care.
· Profiling nurses work in PHC (in publications, websites, conferences etc.).
· Lobbying for legislation that enhances PHC and nurses’ contributions and for
a balanced approach towards preventive, promotive, curative and
rehabilitative services.
· Providing a forum for dialogue and proper understanding of the issues and
differences between PHC and primary medical care.
· Advocating for the health care needs of vulnerable populations.
· Promoting PHC as a career option.
· Lobby ministries to provide scholarships or other funding assistance to
facilitate further education (e.g. ongoing scholarships for primary health care
nurses to complete study).
· Stimulate interest in nursing and PHC research through the provision of
fellowships and training opportunities for nurses and the development of
career opportunities.
· NNAs, managers and practice nurses can lobby for funds and policies that
provide adequate support for nurses working in remote areas or in
challenging circumstances. Support may be in the form of relief personnel,
travel expenses, better resources for safety or care delivery, etc.
20
3. At the workplace: The role of nurse managers
The role of the nurse manager is vital in enabling and empowering nurses in practice.
In the context of PHC, it is a role that supports staff in many ways, including:
· Encouraging/facilitating uptake of new information technologies, through
adequate training and feedback mechanisms.
· Facilitating change management among employees.
· Ensuring the sustainability of financial, physical, and technological resources
for PHC and lobbing for more resources when necessary.
· Allocating human and financial resources in a way that supports nursing
involvement in PHC activities.
· Facilitating/encouraging continuing education.
· Encouraging/facilitating multidisciplinary and multisectoral collaboration.
· Facilitating opportunities for nurses working in PHC to become key players
and focal points for schools of nursing and nurse educators.
4. In nursing educational institutions
Given that nurses are central to PHC delivery, their competence and leadership in
PHC are critical. PHC concepts and principles need to be the basic elements in the
nursing curriculum. As well, educational institutions should:
· Shift from being hospitaloriented to a broader community based focus.
· Match the curriculum to the needs of the population.
· Ensure admission criteria allow for a culturally appropriate mix of students.
· Work with NNAs and others to ensure models of best practice are available.
· Carry out research in support of nurses’ role in primary health care.
· Ensure PHC concepts are practiced in student placements and service.
· Provide highquality primary health care clinical experiences, where nurses
have access to a range of experience, limited responsibility and clinical
preceptorship (guidance).
· Develop PHC leadership in nursing faculties and therefore maintain a critical
mass of faculty in PHC.
· Offer continuing education focused on PHC.
21
5. In nursing research institutions
Effective PHC services need to be guided by nursing and other research so that
outcomes can be evaluated for impact and costeffectiveness. A commitment to
PHCbased health systems requires a more complete evidence base, with
appropriate investments made in the evaluation and documentation of experiences
that allow for development, transfer, and adaptation of best practices. 13 Nursing
research institutions should:
· Collaborate with educational institutions, NNAs, governments and others to
conduct research that helps make PHC a funding priority.
· Conduct research on approaches to educate nurses for PHC.
· Develop methods and indicators to evaluate the effectiveness of various
health care providers in PHC teams.
· Provide research fellowships and training opportunities for nurses.
· Stimulate interest in nursing and PHC research.
· Develop career opportunities in PHC research.
· Promote/carry out research on the costeffectiveness of PHC.
· Develop methods and indicators to evaluate the effectiveness of various
health care providers in PHC teams.
· Stimulate interest in nursing and PHC research through the provision of
fellowships and training opportunities for nurses and the development of
career opportunities.
· Influence the local, national and international research agendas by identifying
priority areas of concern and gaps in information related to nursing
contribution to PHC.
· Research institutes (and NNAs) can generate and use evidence from the
frontline to document the realities of PHC implementation and ways of
attracting resources, including human resources, for PHC.
13
Pan American Health. Organization (2007). Renewing Primary Health Care in the Americas: A
Position Paper of the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO).
Washington, D.C: PAHO.
22
6. Nursing regulatory bodies play a fundamental role in facilitating implementation
of effective PHC and nursing’s leadership. They can:
· Promote nursing practice acts that allow for full utilization of nursing skills and
potential.
· Work with legislators to eliminate any inconsistencies in legislation and
regulatory practices that restrict nurses in fulfilling their full potential in PHC.
· Work with educational institutes to ensure educational requirements meet the
needs of the population in terms of demographics, epidemiology, cultural
practices, etc.
· Develop a communications plan to ensure nurses understand all key
legislative/ regulatory changes.
· Regularly review legislation and regulations to ensure PHC is a cornerstone,
supports current nursing practice and does not hinder appropriate nursing
innovation regarding PHC.
· Collaborate with other regulatory bodies to guide legislators in creating
legislation that actively aims to facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration.
· Work with regulators to resolve any issues regarding scope of practice, title
protection, etc.
7. What each of us can do
Support from organised nursing at the international and national levels, educators,
researchers, regulators and policy makers is crucial for nursing effectiveness in
primary health care. But it is the personal commitment of each and every nurse that
will truly fulfil the promise of primary health care. There are many ways and
opportunities for all of us to take action to ensure nurses lead primary health care.
· Implement primary care principles in your practice no matter where you work
· Advocate for legislation and policy allowing nurses to do more.
· Get involved in your community.
· Undertake research in your local primary health care environments.
· Work to influence educational policies.
· Push for continuing education that focuses on PHC.
· Work with NNAs to initiate/influence policy change.
· Talk with the local media, your neighbours, friends, etc. about the benefits of
nurseled PHC.
23
· Talk and write about your experience in PHC.
· Encourage patients and communities to lobby for increased resources and
political support for PHC.
Primary health care provides a valid and universally applicable approach to reducing
health inequity and improving access to essential health care. Thirty years after the
AlmaAta Declaration on PHC, the world faces challenges in access to care and
quality of care. The world’s nurses represent a formidable force in the global
endeavour to advance PHC and to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. With
proper investment, and an enabling legislative and practice environment, nursing can
play a key role in improving the health status of the world’s population.
24
CHAPTER 4
Looking Ahead
In primary health care and throughout the health care sector, the reality is that people
want choice and access to the information to make those choices. This trend will
continue in the future and increasingly people will need the support that nurses can
give them in accessing information and making good choices.
As emphasis and service delivery moves ever more quickly from home to hospital,
curative to preventive, institutions to communities, nurses will be ever more at the
centre of the health care vortex – the glue that brings continuity to care.
Nurses will become the guests in people’s homes and communities and this will
require different orientation and skill sets in addition to clinical skills. Capacity in
advocacy, community development, communication expertise and teaching/coaching
will be essential.
The future will also bring an increase in supervision and delegation of the ever
growing number of cadres in health care. We will be delegating to people we don’t
know and supervising them remotely. The health care team will enlarge and diversify
and take on a new fluidity in how the nurse functions within the team. Sometimes we
will be the leader, sometimes the coleader and sometimes a member with no
specific leadership tasks. Time, team, resource and information management will be
increasingly important. We will be sharing competencies, shifting tasks and working
with a wider range of providers.
If the shift from hospital to home care is successful, hospitals will have high acuity
and nurses’ ability to link the hospital to the community, to join individuals and family
with the right services and to build bridges between patients, patient groups and
providers will be critical. This will mean more coaching, collaborating and
coordinating and it is critical that we see this as caring rather than as distancing us
from care.
25
Telehealth is an exciting area which will enable nurses to improve access, quality
and continuity of care to populations in all settings regardless of distance. Through
telenursing, nurses will increasingly manage the demand for health services, educate
consumers, counsel high risk populations, provide after hours triage, and maintain
communication with patients who have chronic conditions and debilitating illnesses
and provide services for widely dispersed or rural populations, making health care
accessible to the whole nation.
The public, patients, employers, policy makers and providers will increasingly push
for essential health care based on practical, scientifically sound and socially
acceptable methods and technology, made universally accessible to individuals and
families in the community through their full participation, and at a cost that the
community and country can afford. It forms an integral part of any country’s health
system. Nurses will be expected to practice PHC principles in all settings.
Delivering quality services to our communities will not happen by chance. It will
happen only by choice, determined action and nursing leadership. It requires long
term planning, strategic management and policy making.
Nurses and national nurses associations can lead the way to better health for all.
Nurses have the knowledge, skills and numerical dominance. The public and policy
makers view nurses as ethical, caring, competent and cost effective. It’s up to us to
move the nursing agenda for the coming years and create a preferred future for the
profession and for our societies; one that begins with quality PHC services for all
communities.
Our mission is to lead our societies toward better health. Working together …
we harness the knowledge and enthusiasm of the entire nursing profession to
promote healthy lifestyles, healthy workplaces, and healthy communities. We
foster the health of our societies as well as individuals by supporting
strategies of sustainable development that mitigate poverty, pollution, and
other underlying causes of illness.
(From ICN Vision Statement 2007)
26
ANNEXES
27
28
Annex 1
Millennium Development Goals
In September 2000, at the United Nations Millennium Summit, world leaders agreed
to a set of timebound and measurable goals and targets for combating poverty,
hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against
women. Placed at the heart of the global agenda, they are now called the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs).
The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – which range from halving
extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary
education, all by the target date of 2015 – form a blueprint agreed to by all the
world’s countries and all the world’s leading development institutions. They have
galvanized unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the world’s poorest.
· Halve extreme poverty and hunger.
1.2 billion people still live on less than $1 a day. But 43 countries, with more than
60 per cent of the world’s people, have already met or are on track to meet the
goal of cutting hunger in half by 2015.
· Achieve universal primary education.
113 million children do not attend school, but this goal is within reach; India, for
example, should have 95 per cent of its children in school by 2015 .
· Empower women and promote equality between women and men.
Twothirds of the world’s illiterates are women, and 80 per cent of its refugees are
women and children.
Since the 1997 Microcredit Summit, progress has been made in reaching and
empowering poor women, nearly 19 million in 2000 alone.
· Reduce underfive mortality by two thirds.
11 million young children die every year, but that number is down from 15 million
in 1980.
· Reduce maternal mortality by three quarters.
In the developing world, the risk of dying in childbirth is one in 48. But virtually all
countries now have safe motherhood programmes and are poised for progress.
· Reverse the spread of diseases, especially HIV/AIDS and malaria.
Killer diseases have erased a generation of development gains. Countries like
Brazil, Senegal, Thailand and Uganda have shown that we can stop HIV in its
tracks.
29
· Ensure environmental sustainability.
More than one billion people still lack access to safe drinking water; however,
during the 1990s, nearly one billion people gained access to safe water and as
many to sanitation.
· Create a global partnership for development, with targets for aid, trade and
debt relief.
Too many developing countries are spending more on debt service than on social
services. New aid commitments made in the/ first half of 2002 alone, though, will
reach an additional $12 billion per year by 2006.
30
Annex 2
Nurses and Primary Health Care
ICN Position:
The International Council of Nurses (ICN) believes that equity and access to
primary health care services, particularly nursing services, are key to
improving the health and wellbeing of all people.
Together with its member associations, ICN advocates for the rights of all
people to equitable and effective health care services, and endorses the
Alma Ata Declaration 1 on primary health care (PHC) as a means for attaining
a level of health that will permit people to lead a socially and economically
productive life.
Nationally and internationally, ICN and its members collaborate with
governments and nongovernmental organisations to ensure more effective
implementation of primary health care. In planning and implementing PHC
services, ICN urges a multisectoral approach and adherence to the
following principles:
· Health services are made equally accessible to all, encouraging to the
maximum: individual and community participation in services planning
and operation; a focus on illness prevention and health promotion;
appropriate, affordable technologies; and a multisectoral approach
necessary for wellbeing in a society.
· The focus of health care is the individual, family or group in need of
services, whether for health promotion, protection from illness and
disability, cure and rehabilitation, or care for peaceful, dignified death.
· Health provider education is both scientific and ethical and recognises
the primacy of social determinants of health.
· Health care providers respect the rights of the individual, family and
community to make an informed decision about care and related
treatment.
· Research findings and evaluation of technologies are of direct benefit
to patients and the public.
· In support of Primary Health Care ICN views it critical that PHC
concepts be integrated into all levels of nursing education and that the
nurse’s role in PHC leadership be strengthened and articulated at all
levels nationally and internationally.
31
Background
The world’s population faces a future in which health and wellbeing may be
adversely affected by rapid advances in technology; the depletion of natural
resources and environmental degradation; population growth; the impact of
new health problems (e.g. AIDS) and long recognised diseases (e.g. malaria).
Other factors, such as ageing of the population and concern for those with
chronic and terminal illnesses, place growing demands on health and social
services.
In 1978 ICN declared its support for primary health care and its intent to co
operate at the national and international levels with governmental and non
governmental organisations in making primary health care an effective reality
to meet the health needs of populations.
In the ensuing years ICN and national nurses associations have been
instrumental in lobbying for inclusion of PHC principles and programmes in
health provider education, in service planning and delivery, and in research
and evaluation. Many NNAs are promoting initiatives to incorporate PHC into
nursing practice and policy.
Nurses are the principal group of health personnel providing primary health
care at all levels and maintaining links between individuals, families,
communities and the rest of the health care system. Working with other
sectors, other members of the health care team or on their own, nurses
explore new and better ways of keeping well, or improving health and
preventing disease and disability. Nurses improve equity and access to health
care and add quality to the outcome of care. It is important that nursing
education programmes integrate PHC at basic and postbasic levels.
____________
1
World Health Organization, Alma Ata 1978 Primary Health Care, Geneva, WHO, 1978.
Adopted in 2000
Revised and reaffirmed in 2007
Previously: Health Care and Quality of Life Riga Reaffirmation
Related ICN Positions:
· Participation of nurses in health
services decisionmaking and
policy development
The International Council of Nurses is a federation of more than 125
national nurses associations representing the millions of nurses worldwide.
Operated by nurses for nurses since 1899, ICN is the international voice of
nursing and works to ensure quality care for all and sound health policies
globally.
32
Annex 3
Bibliography
Brown S. and Gimes, D (1992)., A Meta.Analysis of Process of Care, Clinical
outcomes and Costeffectiveness of Nursing in Primary Care Roles, Nurse
Practitioner and NurseMidwives. Washington, DC; American Nurses Association.
Canadian Nurses Association’s initiative of CostEffective Nursing Alternatives. Cited
in the Value of Nursing in a Changing World, ICN. 1996.
Chinombo, A.M (1997)., Community empowerment: A strategy for healthy
communities. International Nursing Review. Geneva: ICN.
College & Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta (2005)., Primary Health Care.
Edmonton: Alberta.
Ferrell, B.J.A. (2002)., Community Development and health project: a 5year (1995
1999) experience in Mozambique, Africa. International Nursing Review. 49. 2737
Hill, A.G., et al (2000), Decline of mortality in children in rural Gambia : The influence
of villagelevel primary care. Tropical Medicine and International Health5 (2):107118.
International Council of Nurses and World Health Organization (1979), Report of
Workshop on the Role of Nursing in Primary Health Care. Nairobi, Kenya, 30
September 1 October 1979.
International Council of Nurses and World Health Organization (1979), Report of the
Workshop on the Role of Nursing in Primary Health Care. Nairobi, Kenya, 30
September 1 October 1979.
International Council of Nurses (1984), Report on the Post workshop Projects.
Mobilising Nursing Leadership for Primary Health Care. Geneva: ICN.
International Council of Nurses (1988), Nursing and Primary Health Care: A Unified
Force. Geneva: ICN.
International Council of Nurses / World Health Organization (1988) Nursing in
Primary Health Care : Ten Years After AlmaAta and Perspectives for the Future.
Report of the Joint ICN/WHO Consultation, 13 August 1988, FerneyVoltaire
International Council of Nurses (1999). Implementing Nurse Prescribing: A Review
for the International Council of Nurses. Developed by Calman, L.; and Buchan, J.
(1999), Geneva: ICN.
International Council of Nurses (2000) ICN on Nursing and Development. Policy
Background Paper. Geneva: ICN.
International Council of Nurses (2006), ICN Code of Ethics for Nurses. Geneva: ICN.
33
International Council of Nurses (2007). ICN Policy Statement. Nurses and Primary
Health Care. Revised 2007.
Laurant, M; et al. Substitution of doctors by nurses in primary care. Cochrane
Database Syst Rev. 2005 Apr 18; (2):CD0011271.
Macduff C. and West B. 2003 Evaluating Family Health Nursing through Education
and Practice, Scottish Executive, Edinburgh
Mahler, H. “Nurses lead the way”. WHO Features, No.97, June 1985.
Mahoney D (1994) Appropriateness of geriatric prescribing decisions made by nurse
practitioners and physicians, Image, 26 (1), 4146, Cited in DOH (1999) Review of
Prescribing, Supply and Administration of Medicines: Final Report (Crown Report).
London, DOH.
Oulton, J. (1998), PHC 21: Making It Happen. The Health Professions’ Perspective.
Presentation at the Almaty Conference, 2728 November 1998.
Pence, B.W., Nyarko, P., Phillips, J.F., and Dbpuur, C. (2005), The Effect of
Community Nurses and Health Volunteers on Child Mortality: The Navrongo
Community Health and Family Planning Project. New York: The Population Council.
Perry, H.B., C. Shanklin, and D.G. Schroeder (2003), Impact of communitybased
comprehensive primary health care program on infant and child mortality in Bolivia.
Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition 21 (4):383395.
Rosenhaur J, Stanford D, Morgan W et al. (1984) Prescribing behavior of primary
care nurse practitioners. American Journal of Public Health 74, 1013.
Shuster, S; Ross, S; Bhgat, R, and Johnson, J. (2001), Using Community
Development Approaches. Canadian Nurse, 97 (6), 1822.
Tarimo, E.& Webster, E.G. (19949, Primary Health Care Concepts and Challenges in
a Changing World : AlaAta revisited. ( Current Concerns SHS Paper number 7,
WHO/SHS/CC/94.2) Geneva: World Health Organization, P.3.
United Nation (2000). United Nations Millennium Declaration:
http://www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.pdf
World Health Organization and UNICEF. (1978), Report of the International
Conference on Primary Health Care. Alma Ata, USSR, 612 th September 1978.
World Health Organization (1981), Report of a meeting on Nursing in Support of the
Goal for Health for All by the Year 2000. 1620 November 1981. Geneva: WHO.
World Health Organization (1986), The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion.
Geneva: WHO
World Health Organization (1988), AlmaAta Reaffirmed at Riga. A Statement of
Renewed and Strengthened Commitment to Health for All by the Year 2000 and
Beyond. A Midpoint Perspective, Riga, USSR, 2225 March 1988. Geneva: WHO
World Health Organization (1997), Jakarta Declaration on Leading Health Promotion
into the 21 st Century. Geneva: WHO.
34
World Health Organization (1998) Primary Health Care 21 – Everybody’s Business
(1998), Background paper for the Alma Ata 20 th Anniversary Conference 2728
November 1998. Almaty, Kazakhstan. Geneva: WHO.
World Health Organization (1998) Health for All in the twenty first century (1998),
Geneva: WHO
World Health Organization (1998), Health for all in the twenty first century. Geneva:
WHO.
World Health Organization (1998). Health for all in the twenty first century. A51/5.
Geneva: WHO.
World Health Organization (2000). Munich Declaration. Nurses and Midwives: A
Force for Health. Copenhagen: WHO/EURO, 2000.
World Health Organization (2001), Macroeconomics and health: investing in health
for economic development. Report of the Commission on Macroeconomics and
Health. Geneva: WHO.
World Health Organization (2003), A Global Review of Primary Health Care:
Emerging Messages. Geneva: WHO.
World Health Organization (2003), A Global Review of Primary Health Care:
Emerging Messages. Geneva: WHO.
35