Postmark: Cape Town

Nursing leadership: Part of the answer for aging societies

By Amy J. Berman, BSN, RN, LHD, senior program officer, The John A. Hartford Foundation, New York City, New York, USA.

Patricia Thompson, chief executive
officer of STTI, with Amy Berman.

It's thrilling to be at the International Nursing Research Congress in beautiful Cape Town, South Africa. As my byline indicates, I’m a nurse and senior program officer at The John A. Hartford Foundation in New York City. The foundation’s mission is to improve care of older adults.

Globally, the membership of the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI) recognizes that our world is aging. In countries such as the United States, Japan, Germany, and Chile, older adults represent the single largest demographic group within healthcare systems and have some of the most challenging clinical outcomes.

In countries such as South Africa, which has long focused on improving maternal child health and combatting communicable diseases, the challenges of chronic disease, frailty, family caregiving, and end-of-life care are critical. While South Africa’s older adults represent just 8.1 percent of the country’s population, they are its fastest-growing demographic.

To address the challenges of an aging society, STTI established the Gerontological Nursing Leadership Academy (GNLA) with funding from The John A. Hartford Foundation. GNLA helps nurses realize their individual leadership potential, maximize their influence on healthcare practice and policy, and lead sustainable interprofessional projects. The 18-month program features a strategic triad approach—the fellow, a leadership mentor, and a faculty adviser. The fifth term of the academy is now in progress, and the 50 nurse leaders who compose the current cohort include fellows from Canada and the Philippines.

GNLA is a global opportunity, a model that STTI can help other countries replicate. Tomorrow morning, Saturday, 23 July, a special session titled “The Gerontological Nursing Leadership Academy: Impacting the Future of Care Delivery and Policy” will be presented. It will feature a GNLA fellow and faculty members who will discuss the sustainable changes and greater scopes of influence in practice that the academy makes possible. I will be presenting along with panelists Deb Cleeter, EdD, MSN, RN; Claudia Beverly, PhD, MSN, RN, FAAN; and Amy Cotton, MSN, RN, FAAN.

As David Benton, chief executive officer of the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, observed in Thursday’s opening plenary, we need to address the challenges of an aging society, and that’s what GNLA does. Nursing leadership is an important part of the answer.

This conference is a blast!

By Jordan Tovera Salvador, PhD, RN, assistant professor, College of Nursing, University of Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Salvador is a native of the Philippines.

Jordan Salvador

The best thing that could ever happen to a person is to have both personal and professional growth. I am very lucky because here I am in Cape Town, South Africa, at the International Nursing Research Congress (INRC) experiencing both at the same time. What really excites me is that I will be presenting my research work to a much larger audience than what I’ve usually experienced.

I am really enthusiastic and thrilled to share my work, which focuses on the lived experiences of older people in the Philippines, and will be presenting my advocacy program called HOPE (Holistic Outlook for Pinoy Elderly). I initiated the program last year and plan to fully implement it soon. I admit I have butterflies in my chest whenever I think about my presentation. Will people like it or not? More importantly, what kind of feedback will I receive? I welcome suggestions and comments from attendees that help me improve my work.

At Victoria and
Alfred Waterfront.

This conference provides a great venue for nurses around the globe to exchange ideas, learn about cultures, share best nursing practices, and speak their minds on nursing issues and trends in healthcare delivery. It’s wonderful to network with nurses from various parts of the world, and STTI is connecting nurses globally to step up to our goal—to uplift our profession and unify our voices to be as one.

Visiting ethnic stores.

That is why I feel so blessed and honored to be given a chance to present here at INRC. This congress is in Cape Town, which is truly on my must-see bucket list. As you can see, being part of this conference is really a huge deal for me, so I am very thankful to STTI for selecting me to receive an Edith Anderson Leadership Education Grant. It is helping me greatly in covering expenses associated with this memorable trip.

With President Cathy Catrambone.

The International Nursing Research Congress is now in progress, and I am pretty sure I am not the only attendee who is excited to learn about Cape Town—to go to the beaches, see the breath-taking scenery of Table Mountain, visit museums and landmarks, and a lot more. This is only the second day, but already it’s clear that this conference is a blast, an experience that will be forever inculcated in the heart and mind of every participant. I’m looking forward to meeting all of you!

At Table Mountain.

At South African Museum and Planetarium.

At Groot Constantia, oldest wine estate in South Africa.

Food tasting.