Global Advisory Panel on the Future of Nursing & Midwifery (GAPFON): Recommendations, Strategies and Outcomes

In 2015 and 2016, the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI) convened seven regional meetings of the Global Advisory Panel on the Future of Nursing & Midwifery (GAPFON) in Southeast Asia/Pacific Rim (in Seoul, Republic of Korea, June 2015), the Caribbean (in San Juan, Puerto Rico, July 2015), Latin/Central America (in San Juan, Puerto Rico, July 2015), North America (two meetings in Washington, DC, February 2016), the Middle East (in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, March 2016), Europe (in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, June 2016), and Africa (in Cape Town, South Africa, July 2016). Global nursing and midwifery leaders shared how the combined professions can lead the advancement of global health outcomes, and identified primary healthcare concerns for the regions including (but not liminted to) maternal child health, non-communicable diseases, communicable disease outbreaks, and mental health. These meetings fulfilled a large portion of the work required to fulfill GAPFON’s mission, but they are only the first of several phases to be undertaken toward the creation of global and regional recommendations for nursing/midwifery and healthcare. During the session, a review of GAPFON's history and foundation will be shared, and GAPFON's mission, vision and purpose will be discussed. The initial outcomes and recommendations from the global meetings that were completed in July 2016 will be featured. Examples of the consensus-building process utilized at the regional meetings will be shared, along with the kinds of quantitative and qualitative data collected from the stakeholders. This includes the identification of primary regional health issues and the strategies needed to address them. Strategies for how to strengthen the nursing/midwifery workforce will be shared, as will strategies identified to improve quality of practice. In addition, presenters will discuss plans for implementation, the forging of inter-professional alliances and collaborations, and a preliminary targeted framework to move the recommendations into an action plan with measureable outcomes.