Guest article by Ber Oomen, Interim Executive Director at the European Specialist Nurses Organsiation (ESNO)
During the 2021 World Antimicrobial Awareness Week, the European Specialist Nurses Organisation (ESNO) launched 4 new publications and kicked-off an ambitious three-year program.
For this program, a special Focus Team has been established, consisting of four specialist nurse experts, all familiar in the field of Infection Prevention and Control (IPC), as well as on AMR and Stewardship. In addition, ESNO has established a group of 20 nurses from all over Europe as an expert reference group. The lead group has set the following long-term context driven goals:
- Establish an expert network on infection prevention and operate as link to nurse expertise.
- Initiate educational activities on microbes, vaccines, AMR and infection control.
- Develop a European harmonised standard for AMR Stewardship and Infection Prevention curricula.
- Promote national mandatory continual education on microbes, vaccination, AMR and infection prevention for nurses.
- Develop and update a nurse’s guide on: Microbes and Mediation, Vaccination, AMR and Stewardship and IPC with curricula.
- Engage with European high-level representatives in promoting the recognition of specialist nurses in relation to infection prevention, vaccination and AMR.
- Contribute to European initiatives such as networks, congresses, events and any other form of forum, to give input from the specialist nurses domain.
- Initiate and contribute towards research, publications and data building related to the specialist nurses’ domain.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
The ESNO programme and vision about AMR acts in synergy with other activities related to IPC, vaccination and immunisation, and wider public health and health promotion activities, recognising the increasingly wide range of clinical, educational, research and leadership roles held by specialist nurses across Europe.
WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED
Over the last two years, ESNO has naturally focused much of its collective efforts and work on supporting the nursing response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This has included developing information resources to strengthen key personal protective behaviours such as physical distancing, reduction of unnecessary journeys, hand hygiene, continued ventilation of meeting spaces, and appropriate and continued use of masks.
WHAT WE ARE HEADING FOR
ESNO also strives to continue positioning itself as one of the European and international nursing think-tanks and advocacy organisations, shaping European nursing education and competencies, as well as influencing the policy landscape. ESNO continues to work to equip nurses with the policymaking and communication skills and attitudes necessary to engage with politicians, decision-makers and civil society on crucial topics such as drug-resistant infections, IPC, and immunisation.
Disclaimer: the opinions – including possible policy recommendations – expressed in the article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of EPHA. The mere appearance of the articles on the EPHA website does not mean an endorsement by EPHA.