Paper
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
652
Building Russian Staff Nurse Capacity to Improve Patient Care
Marie J. Driever, RN, PhD, Director of Nursing Quality/Research, Providence Portland Medical Center, Portland, OR, USA and Rachel Difazio, MS, RN, PNP, Department of Orthopedics, Children's Hospital, Boston, Department of Orthopedics, Boston, MA, USA.
Russian nurses participating in the US-Russian Nursing Conference Cruise are invited to develop a proposal to improve nursing and/or patient care in their work settings. The purposes of this paper are to: 1)describe development of work setting projects for professional capacity building and 2) provide examples of these Russian nurse projects. The US-Russian Conference Cruise, a conference on the Russian waterways, serves as a conducive venue to help Russian nurses use a small grants program to improve patient care delivery and strengthen professional, and even personal, self- confidence. US and Russian nurses participate equally in the conference program. Being together on the boat and enjoying sightseeing, in addition to sharing conference learning activities stimulates the development of cross national relationships. This context creates a supportive environment for US participants to assist Russian nurses identify nursing and/or patient care improvement projects for their work settings. Project discussions focus on implementation strategies as well as delineating the resources necessary to assure these projects can be completed. US nurses mobilize funding resources including Sigma Theta Tau International Chapters to provide grant monies for these projects funded at $500 USD. Projects Russian nurses have completed include integrating the use of visual aids for diabetic teaching, developing pressure relieving surfaces and teaching patient/families and nurses ways to prevent noscomial pressure ulcers and development of informational brochures about hospice services and the availability of surgery for children with heart defects. US participant aid Russian colleagues by providing teaching materials to be adapted to the Russian context. Upon completion, Russian nurses submit reports on their project achievements. Through dialogue about these projects, US-Russian nurses learn about patient concerns in each other’s countries and how to collaborate to jointly improve health care delivery. Collaborative learning during the Conference Cruise facilitates participant capacity building with multiple and professional benefits.