ICN announces joint venture with BBC to provide an intimate year-long portrait of the world of nursing

ICN has announced a significant collaboration with BBC Global News, which will result in an entertaining and informative online series of programmes that will shine a light on the global nursing workforce.

The ground-breaking series, which will be made with the help of ICN’s 130-plus National Nursing Associations (NNAs), will educate and inform the public about the profession by providing a unique and intimate portrait of the world of nursing.

The collaboration with the BBC was announced during a special webinar, held to mark International Nurses Day (IND), which was attended by 1,359 nurses from 73 countries. IND is traditionally held on 12 May to commemorate the anniversary of the birth of one of the founders of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale.

The webinar included the premier of a short film about Ms Nightingale returning to today’s wards during the pandemic, and the launch of ICN’s new IND report and resource guide, Nurses a Voice to Lead: A Vision for Future Healthcare.

The webinar was opened by ICN President Annette Kennedy and its Chief Executive Officer Howard Catton, who moderated the procedure. Ms Kennedy paid tribute to the 27 million nurses around the world, for their courage, compassion, care competence and leadership during COVID-19 pandemic, and introduced a moment of silence and reflection to remember the more than three thousand nurses who had lost their lives during the pandemic.

Ms Kennedy said:

“Although we are celebrating International Nurses Day, it is important that we also recognise those nurses who gave their lives during CVID-19. It’s important that we reflect on their great work and their contribution. It’s important that we build on what they did and give voice to their ideas, their professionalism and their duty to care.”

The webinar also contained the world premiere of the English version of a short film, made by the German Nurses Association, the Deutscher Berufsverbands für Pflegeberufe (DBfK), which depicts Florence Nightingale visiting modern-day wards where patients are being treated for COVID-19. The film, which was introduced by DBfK Chief Executive Franz Wagner, emphasises that the core essence of nursing is eternal, and that nurses everywhere still light the way for their patients, even if they now use the torch on their smart phones, rather than an oil lamp.

World Health Organization Chief Nursing Officer Elizabeth Iro wished nurses everywhere a hoppy International Nurses Day and thanked them for the work they have done to save lives since the start of the pandemic.

“[It is] important to reflect on the past year and look forward to rebuilding and adapting to smarter ways of contributing to better health outcomes for the people we care for. This means continuing every day to provide high-quality care in what you do, it means addressing the social determinants of health as well as the microbial causes of diseases. It means strengthening our interdisciplinary collaboration and the teams that we work in, and engaging with advancing technology and scaling up our knowledge and competences in this area. The task to build the global nursing profession to be a stronger, resilient, highly trained and credible profession is immense, but we have key strategic documents, like the State of the World’s Nursing Report and the Strategic Directions for Nursing and Midwifery for 2021-2025, that provide data, evidence and policy options to strengthening nursing in education, leadership, jobs and practice. We have young nursing leaders who are already engaging with global leaders, we have nurses already in the workforce, we need to take care of them, and yet we still need more of them. We need to continue to work in collaboration as a nursing global community. I thank Annette and Howard for their continued support of WHO programmes. To all nurses, your work over the last year has been extraordinary, and I thank every one of you for your caring and for your compassion.”

ICN Associate Director David Stewart presented this year’s IND report, which is based on interviews and information from hundreds of nurses in 70 countries representing 80% of the world’s population.

Mr Stewart said:

“COVID has demonstrated to the world the weaknesses in our health systems and in the health of our communities, and it has shone a spotlight on things that need to be improved. We need to recognise the contribution of nurses around the world, these solution makers, so that their stories are told, and lessons can be learned globally. We need to evaluate and evolve this workforce, and reimagine how we can learn from it in the future”.

Speaking after the webinar, Howard Catton said:

“ICN’s strategic partnership with the BBC will provide us with an opportunity to take nursing, the most trusted profession in the world, to a new global audience of millions. It will enable people outside of healthcare to gain a deeper understanding and insights into our profession.

‘The series of programmes that will be produced will help the public to understand that nurses are transformative and innovative leaders of change as they respond to new and existing global health challenges, and help to strengthen nursing leadership in all healthcare systems.”

To see the Florence Nightingale film click here
To watch a recording of the webinar click here

Download the communiqué here