US speakers for first CfH nursing conference

US nursing experience of using clinical IT systems will be shared at Connecting for Health’s first conference for nurses and midwives in March.

Victoria Bradley and Carol Steltenkamp of the University of Kentucky Medical School has been invited to speak at the conference which will be opened by England’s chief nursing officer (CNO).

CfH say the conference on 28 March in London, will give all levels of nursing professionals the chance to find out more about how IT can help nurses and midwives deliver better, safer patient care and how their working lives will be improved by it.

CNO, Chris Beasley, said the conference would provide an excellent chance for nurses and midwives to hear about CfH’s work. “It will help inform them about the way the new information systems being delivered by the agency will improve patient safety and make a real difference to the working lives of nurses and midwives.”

The conference was first announced last year as part of a raft of communication measures initiated by the then CfH nursing clinical lead, Heather Tierney-Moore. She also targeted education at pre-and post-registration level and set up a new a Nursing Advisory Group that brings together the nursing, midwifery and health visiting organisations.

A survey conducted by Nursix for the Royal College of Nursing found that the professions remain supportive of NHS IT developments. Rising numbers felt better informed about IT modernisation, but the majority still said they had inadequate information or no information at all.

Tierney-Moore pointed to the size of the nursing professions as a factor making communication difficult and commented that IT was a turn-off for most nurses. These challenges have been inherited by Susan Osborne, the new nursing lead who stepped in when Tierney-Moore moved to a new post in Scotland.

She is also scheduled to speak at the conference along with community nursing clinical lead, Barbara Stuttle, and the president of the Nurses and Midwives Council, Jonathan Ashbridge.

Link

Conference details and booking form

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