International Update- by Carol Huston

It’s a busy time in the honor society!  Convention is fast approaching and the work of the biennium is drawing to a close.  I do hope many of you will be able to attend the 40th Biennial STTI Convention to be held in Indianapolis, Indiana Oct. 31- Nov. 4, 2009.  There will be hundreds of podium and poster presentations on leadership, scholarship/research, and clinical practice at the convention.  In addition, I will be the opening plenary speaker and have the opportunity to preside over an international induction, including the induction of honorary members, as well as the House of Delegates. Greg Mortenson, founder of nonprofit Central Asia Institute and Pennies For Peace and co-author of New York Times bestseller Three Cups of Tea will also be a keynote presenter at one of the morning’s events.

More than 30 awards will be given at the convention to honor and recognize nursing excellence and chapter best practices. I personally will be giving the presidential mentoring award to Bessie Marquis (former nursing faculty member at CSUC) and the Dorothy Ford Buschmann presidential support award to my husband Tom at the Founder’s Dinner. So it will be an exciting 5 days filled with opportunities for professional growth and networking.

So many exciting things are happening at the international level, that it’s difficult to list them all.  Instead, I have noted just some of the highlights below, but please do contact me if you want more information.

ü      STTI did apply as a non-governmental-organization (NGO) for observer status with the United Nations in May 09.  The application will be reviewed in Dec. 09.

ü      The first virtual honor society was launched this past spring, with our own Jenny Lillibridge serving as its first president.  The honor society has reached the target number needed to apply to become a chapter so that application should be in the works soon.

ü      A global task force has been convened to examine reconfiguring the regions within STTI to be more global in scope.  The UN region model is serving as a guide.

ü      STTI’s International Academic Nursing Alliance (IANA) is expanding from being a database for global curriculum exchange to also include matching opportunities for student, faculty, and practitioner exchanges as well as mentoring opportunities.

ü      STTI and the World Health Organization (WHO), along with more than 30 other international health care leaders, released “Global Standards for the Initial Education of Professional Nurses and Midwives,” a comprehensive guide outlining international standards for basic nursing and midwifery education in June 2009.

ü      STTI and the International Council of Nurses published a free resource entitled Coaching in Nursing Workbook in late spring 2009, which is available at no cost to nurses globally through both the STTI and ICN websites.

ü      STTI, in partnership with the Nightingale Initiative for Global Health and the Nightingale Museum, will cosponsor the 2010 International Year of the Nurse website and other celebratory activities.

ü      There are now more than 34,000 searchable research studies, conference abstracts, evidence based projects, and Doctor of Nursing practice projects available in the Virginia Henderson International Nursing Library (VHINL) and new contributions are added regularly. Much of the material in the VHINL has not been published in journals and is not available in any other collection and it is free to everyone, not just STTI members.

ü      Despite these difficult economic times, the honor society increased its funding for grants and scholarship by 60% over the 2005-2007 biennium. Indeed, more than U.S. $300,000 in research grants were awarded this biennium to 69 nurses in nine countries. 

ü      The 20th International Nursing Research Congress was held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in July 2009. Despite a late change in venue, almost 500 nurses from 25 different countries attended to share their research, clinical innovations, and best practices and to participate in rich, global networking.  The 21st International Nursing Research Congress which will be held in Orlando Florida in July 2010.

ü      The Leadership Advisory Councils from both the 2005-2007 and current biennium developed a prototype for a greatly expanded STTI Leadership Institute which will offer multiple levels of leadership development across the career span, including the global nurse leader. You will hear more about this in the next biennium.

ü      Advisory councils and task forces for the 2007-2009 biennium worked to develop templates for formal leadership succession and mentoring programs at the chapter level. These materials will be available to chapter leaders in the near future.

ü      Sigma is now a part of Facebook and in fact, more than 4000 members are now a part of this social networking effort.  Please join us as members of the STTI Facebook page if you have not done so already.

ü      STTI also launched a new Career Advisor program in 2009 for our younger members or for members considering a career change.  In this program, honor society members can ask to be connected to an expert nurse career advisor to communicate with by phone or email about career decisions such as returning to school, obtaining professional certifications, making job choices, etc.

ü      A special newsletter, Always a Nurse, has been created for our retired members and multiple group travel opportunities were offered to our retired members this biennium.

ü      With the generosity of the Elsevier Foundation, STTI will launch a Nurse Faculty Mentored Development Program (NFMLD) in 2010. This program will provide novice nurse educators the opportunity to significantly develop their leadership knowledge and skills as they begin their career in the faculty role.

ü      The Sigma Theta Tau International Foundation was also able to award US$16,500 in leadership education grants to 30 nurses from eight countries to attend research congresses, leadership programs and this convention (10% increase over last biennium).

ü      Three leadership summits are planned in 2010; one in Dallas, one in Hawaii, and one in Europe.

ü      The honor society is exploring the development of an STTI International Service Institute which could connect nurses globally around opportunities for community service and service learning engagement.

ü       The John A. Hartford Foundation awarded Sigma Theta Tau $1.6 million dollars to launch a new Leadership Academy to promote leadership development in geriatric care. Our first cohort began in 2008 and the preliminary outcomes are amazing.

ü      We continued our partnership with Johnson and Johnson in offering the Maternal Child Leadership Academy, which is an 18-month, mentored leadership development experience designed to prepare and position nurses and nurse midwives to influence practice and patient outcomes. Our 4th program cohort began during the 2007-2009 biennium.