The spread of the new coronavirus infection has not stopped, and I imagine that since last year, you have been forced to endure many restrictions and changes in your life.Thank you very much to all of you who are working hard every day.
This time, I would like to think about the roles and specialties of the nursing profession from a global perspective.
In the nursing profession, there is an organization called the International Council of Nurses (ICN), which has a history of more than 100 years as an international organization of nursing professionals.The Japanese Nursing Association, a professional association of Japanese nurses, is also a member of ICN.
The preamble of the ICN Code of Ethics for Nursing (which is a code of conduct codified by professional associations on social responsibility and professional ethics as a profession) includes the following passage:
“Nursing care is respectful of and constrained by age, color, creed, culture, disability or disease, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, politics, race and social status. *1” From this preamble, we can read that the target of nursing care is everyone in the world, that there are no borders in nursing, and that the nursing profession is a global profession. .
About 20 years ago, as a Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer, I spent two years working with local nurses as a public health nurse in the Republic of Vanuatu (hereinafter referred to as Vanuatu) in the South Pacific.The main activities were maternal and child health activities (infant health checks and vaccinations at visiting and fixed maternal and child health clinics) and school health activities (health education at elementary schools, etc.).
There were two major things I learned and felt about the expertise of the nursing profession through the activities.
One is that people have different cultures and values, and it is important to embrace and understand that diversity when providing nursing care.
I felt first-hand that not only the language used differs from country to country, but also the culture and sense of values differ greatly. I realized that the idea of ``should be like this'' and ``should be done like this'' was nothing more than my sense of values.
The second thing I felt was that nursing expertise is universal.While working in Vanuatu, I felt that the perspectives necessary for preventive activities and the basics, principles and principles of health education techniques for conducting preventive activities are the same, even if the country is different.
What I learned in basic public health nurse training and my experience working as a public health nurse in Japan were used to create instruction plans that were easy for local mothers and children to understand, and to create posters for use in health education. rice field.I realized that the preventive activities of public health nurses are applicable not only in Japan but also overseas, and I felt that the knowledge and skills of nursing are universal.
Through my activities in Vanuatu, I learned about the global perspective of nursing.However, it can be said that the perspective of global nursing is necessary not only for overseas activities, but also for domestic activities.In recent years, the number of foreign residents in Japan has been increasing, and there are more opportunities to provide nursing care to people of different races within the country.In addition, the current spread of the new coronavirus infection is a global health issue, and in order to solve it, we must think about this issue from a global perspective and stand up to solve the issue as a member of the global nursing profession. can be said to be necessary.
Wherever we operate in the world, we are committed to addressing health challenges as global citizens.If you think about it that way, you can understand that there are no national borders in nursing, and that nursing is a global profession.The field and role of the nursing profession are expanding more and more.I am looking forward to learning about nursing together with you at our university, where the Global Nursing Major is located.
*1 Japanese Nursing Association: Japanese translation ICN Code of Ethics for Nurses (2012 Edition) July 2013 Translated by the Japan Nursing Associationhttps://www.nurse.or.jp/home/publication/pdf/rinri/icncodejapanese.pdf
