Paper
Monday, November 5, 2007
371
Electronic Communities of Practice: Putting "Information into the Hands of Those Who Care"
Patricia Abbott, PhD, RN, FAAN, FACMI, School of Nursing, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| Learning Objective #1: articulate understanding of principles (including costs & benefits) of electronic Communities of Practice to "reach and teach" global nurses and midwives. |
| Learning Objective #2: identify avenues for application of electronic Communities of Practice to benefit global health and distribute knowledge resources. |
Large-scale public health events have given a ‘wake-up call’ worldwide, emphasizing the need for more efficient ways to rapidly communicate, mobilize and deploy healthcare resources. The impact of Hurricane Katrina, the tsunami, SARS, HIV/AIDS, multi-drug resistant tuberculosis, malaria, and the potential pandemic of avian influenza has raised the stakes, and increased the impetus for the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in healthcare. ICT use in disaster relief and communicable disease prevention enables rapid situational analysis and surveillance, and permits focused information to be electronically distributed to local, regional, national and global organizations and individuals, facilitating reasoned responses. In an effort to begin to address the need for ways in which front-line workers are able to communicate, mobilize, and deploy knowledge critical to the health of communities, the WHO Geneva Nursing Office facilitated the creation of an electronic Community of Practice (CoP) for global nurses and midwives. The goal of the Global Alliance for Nursing and Midwifery Communities of Practice (GANM CoP) effort is to use ICT to “reach and teach” globally distributed healthcare workers. Administered from the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, the GANM CoP employs an electronic communication system that is specifically designed for use in remote and/or low bandwidth settings and requires only an e-mail address in order to participate. The new online community offers nurses and midwives throughout the world, despite their geographic location and physical settings, a forum for sharing ideas, best practices, and new knowledge.
From the period of September, 2006 until January, 2007, over 1,100 individuals from 112 different countries have joined the GANM CoP. Four distinct sub-communities have arisen from the initial effort, including ICT and Distributed E-Learning; Making Pregnancy Safer; Family Nursing-Europe; and Chief Nursing Officers. Fundamentals, lessons learned, and opportunities for future growth will be discussed.