New network for student nurses: NZNO student leaders help launch the new ICN student network and gain a new perspective on the place of students globally.

Helping launch the International Council of Nurses' (ICN) Student Nurse Network in Yokohama, Japan, at the end of May was a privilege for me and Tauira Aronui chair Tracy Witehira.

The idea of forming a student body with the support of ICN was first mooted in 1993. Development has been fragmented since then. All the students attending the ICN conference this year were enthusiastic about developing an international group that focused on empowering students and giving them an important global voice to address key professional issues.

Initially it was hoped to form an association of national student nurse organisations with elected regional representatives, committee and chairperson, that could communicate on behalf of student nurses globally. What has eventuated is a much less formal grouping.

Tracy and I felt very fortunate that NZNO's board of directors agreed to support our attendance at the ICN conference. It was also reassuring to have Te Runanga chair Brenda Close, president Marion Guy and chief executive Geoff Annals there to guide us.

Attending the first morning of the Council of National Representatives' meeting as observers, we were amazed at the spirit of goodwill and co-operation shown by nurses from so many countries. For us this was a main theme of the entire event--goodwill between nurses and student nurses, a sharing of similarities and differences. Retention seemed to be a recurring theme, as well as salaries in underdeveloped nations. There was also the issue of dealing with national disasters and nursing in unexpected circumstances.

Attending the student meetings made us realise how fortunate NZNO's national student unit (NSU) and Tauira Aronui members are, compared to our peers in many other countries. Access to staff support for appropriate services and advice, plus networking through NZNO's colleges and sections, are just two of the many benefits students have in New Zealand. Some countries lack an effective national nursing organisation, are divided between two competing entities, or exclude students altogether. But however students collaborate nationally, several issues are the same worldwide, eg having quality preceptor/mentor preparation, clinical placement availability in acute areas, and access to affordable child care services.

Tracy discovered that New Zealand is unique in recognising the cultural diversity of our population and honouring the principles of participation, partnership and protection, as outlined in Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Some countries did have indigenous student nurse bodies, but only as separate entities from the national associations. Others had no representation of indigenous nurses at all.

Network works within ICN constitution

In our business sessions, we learnt that ICN wished to establish a network of individual student members from ICN member and non-member countries, working within the ICN constitution. ICN would host a message board on their website, manage a database of members' names and email addresses, and share its letterhead with students wishing to seek funding from public and private sources to promote student network activities. Infrastructure, such as an elected committee of national student leaders and a chairperson to represent strategic issues, would not occur.

Eventually students decided to support the ICN proposal at this stage and to assist with launching the network. We developed a two-hour programme that highlighted the history and potential future directions of the network. The programme included two guest speakers (ICN nursing consultant Mireille Kingma who spoke on positive practice environments and Canadian nursing policy director Sandra MacDonald-Rencz who called for interprofessional education), plus an introduction from ICN president Hiroko Minami. It is now up to individual student members to form informal groups to identify and develop ideas, and submit these to ICN for approval before distributing and working on them.

Superb moderating job

My job as moderator (according to Tracy, Daniel did an absolutely superb job) was to welcome the special guests and approximately 150 ICN members who attended the launch, and introduce Minami. During and after the launch, the team gathered over 100 names and email addresses of students interested in joining the network. A working group from these volunteered to get things moving.

Over the next two and a half days, Tracy and I attended as many presentations as we could, with subjects ranging from oxygen therapy to hypertension, nurse migration, quality management, neuromuscular relief techniques and the specialist-generalist debate. It was like the CINHAL database come to life!

Attending the conference was also an amazing cultural experience, with the Japanese Nurses Association (JNA) spoiling us with traditional Gagaku music and dancing on the opening night, and even a dinner visit from Empress Michiko, followed by several dance groups made up of JNA members.

The theme of the conference, "Nurses at the forefront, dealing with the unexpected", will be a lifelong memory for us because of the reality behind the words. Seeing the differences nurses are making worldwide has made us realise we can go beyond our routines, look beyond our personal horizons and accept there could be many unexpected changes ahead. These might be hurricanes, political unrest, and outbreaks of communicable and non-communicable diseases. We need to prepare ourselves, our workplaces, our communities, national and international groups.

Becoming a member of the ICN student network may be a good option for New Zealand students interested in the international scene or hoping to travel overseas to further their study or employment. For more information, see www.icn.ch.

By NSU chair Daniel Jackson and Tauira Aronui chair Tracy Witehira