PRESS RELEASE
8 DECEMBER 2015
Health and Social Ecosystem – Implementation Research
This successful event was hosted by Alojz Peterle (MEP), who opened the session by highlighting the role that eHealth services can play in improving citizens’ life, as well as driving economic development in the European Union (EU).
Peter O’Donnell (Politico) moderated the session, reminding that nursing is the original health profession, representing the oldest and most fundamental aspect of health service provision.
Paul De Raeve, EFN Secretary General introduced the ENS4Care video and documentary, which capture the work of this 2 year project; before giving the floor to the first Panel and Speakers, consisting of:
- Elena Bonfiglioli from Microsoft;
- Daniel Widmer from UEMO;
- Dalė Kabašinskaitė from IFSW European Region;
- Frank Goodwin from Eurocarers;
- Peggy Maguire from EIWH; and
- Evgeniya Adarska from APOZ and Friends.
Key messages from the first debate were:
1. eHealth and inter-professional working are key components of health system reform;
2. A multi-stakeholder approach including carers and citizens’ perspectives is necessary in the development of robust health and social policies;
3. Concerns over data privacy should not detract from the value that eHealth can bring to improving patients’ and citizens’ daily lives.
The Second Panel and Speakers included:
- Dorota Kilanska, representing the European Nursing Research Foundation;
- Tapani Piha, from DG SANTE;
- Pēteris Zilgalvis, from DG Connect, and
- Marianne Sipilä from EFN.
The messages from the second panel were clear:
1. Nursing research is fundamental to the development of evidence-based eHealth and public health policies;
2. Developing digital health literacy among professionals as well as patients is crucial to patient empowerment;
3. The EFN Workforce Matrix 3+1 and the EFN Competency Framework provide the tools to drive implementation of eHealth in daily practice.
The presentations were followed by a lively debate with MEPs and participants. Key feedback related to issues around data privacy and ownership; overlap and protectionism among health professionals; and health education and literacy.
Conclusion: The design of health and social guidelines and policies to transform the current traditional medical healthcare system towards a model of integrated care that is innovative, gender sensitive and sustainable, achieving better and measurable health and social outcomes, necessitates implementation research engaging fieldworkers to build evidence based policies which needs to have a high ‘fit for purpose’.
Please contact
Dr Paul De Raeve, Secretary General of the European Federation of Nurses Associations, for more information. Email: efn@efn.be – Tel: +32 2 512 74 19 – Web: www.efnweb.eu