The Ministry of Health and Prevention, MOHAP, recently held the second forum for nursing officials to review the results achieved in the last six months after the adoption of their new strategic plan and operational nursing.

The forum was also held to highlight the success of the initiative and enhance the attractiveness of the nursing profession – in line with the National Agenda and the Ministry's Strategic Plan 2017-2021 – and the global goals of nursing overall. Dr. Yousef Mohammed Al Sarkal, Assistant Under-Secretary for the Hospitals Sector, Dr. Sumaya Mohammed Al Balushi, Director of the Nursing Department, and department and sector directors, strategic partners, and ministry staff were also in attendance at the event.

On the sidelines of the event, a discussion session was held with the various nursing officials on the achievements of the nursing career enhancement initiative and future plans in line with Vision 2021 to unify efforts to raise the nursing profession and empower nurses and nursing staff. It was also agreed that the UAE will join the campaign "nursing now", which aims to ensure the status of nursing in the development of health policies and investment in nursing staff.

The forum also witnessed the discussion of the 'State of the World's Midwifery 2020' and the 'State of the World’s Nursing' reports. The reports are expected to be released by the World Health Organisation, WHO, in 2020 and will include the status and state of the nursing and general midwifery professions across all countries. The report requires the cooperation of all countries in sending and submitting data and information covering both professions.

Dr. Al Serkal said, "The second forum for nursing leaders will give a new impetus to the consolidation of standards for assessing nursing practices, identifying challenges in achieving goals and engaging nursing executives in discussing solutions and initiatives to enhance collaboration, mobilising support and building effective partnerships. All of these will support the achievement of the objectives of the national Initiative to enhance the attractiveness of the nursing profession, under the slogan 'Nursing is pride and creativity', which is a part of the ministry's strategy to provide comprehensive and integrated healthcare in innovative and sustainable ways to ensure the prevention of disease."

One of the most important projects highlighted during the forum was the 'Clinical Resource Nurses' project, which looks to keeping pace with the latest clinical developments for the nursing profession while also aiming to measure the impact of today's nursing professionals in terms of their competency and ability to ensure customer satisfaction.

In line with this, MOHAP recently created a team for each hospital that has been tasked with following up on the competency and clinical performance of their nurses in an innovative way. In addition, the team will also check and follow the internship programme and clinical placements. The developed course for preceptorship was created on the 'Maharati System' of the Training and Development Centre. The clinical resource nurses also revealed four new research initiatives currently being conducted and planned to be published in future upon completion.

Dr. Sumaya Mohammed Al Baloushi, Director of Nursing Department at MOHAP, added, "The purpose of the forum is to discuss and implement best practices in nursing, to bring about change and innovation where necessary, to enhance public perception of the nursing profession and to cope with global trends and evidence-based practices. The Nursing Leadership Planning team will continue twice a year to pursue communication and ensure continued success in partnership with all nursing leaders."

To achieve these goals, the nursing department has established a leadership team to evaluate and develop nursing care practices based on the best international nursing standards and standards.

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