In early July 2023, 6,000 nurses from across the globe gathered at Montreal’s Palais des congrès for the 29thInternational Council of Nurses (ICN) Congress, co-hosted with the Canadian Nursing Association. This four-day event was an incredible occasion to connect with professionals from around the world while showcasing the expertise of Ingram School of Nursing (ISoN) faculty, students and clinical partners, with a special focus on Strengths-Based Nursing and Healthcare (SBNH). As well, we were pleased to sponsor a booth in the Exhibition Hall, and to host nursing delegations from several countries who visited our School to see our facilities and learn more about our pedagogical approaches.
Reflecting the depth and breadth of ISoN’s research focus, our faculty and students presented on a variety of topics including chronic pain in adult ICU survivors, opioid monitoring in hospital settings, cancer and work, and maternal health in Black communities. The ICN Congress also provided the perfect platform to bring SBNH into the conversation, engaging the nursing community with the findings from ISoN Professor Laurie Gottlieb’s research partnership Transforming Nurses’ Work Environments Through a Strengths-Based Leadership and Management Training Program (2018-2024). Coinciding with the research partnership’s knowledge mobilization phase, 11 accepted abstracts and four oral presentations touched on the implementation of SBNH across leadership, education and learning, and clinical practice.
Presentations from the ISoN and the SBNH research partnership included (see full list below):
- Canadian nurse leaders’ understanding of fostering EDI-inclusive workplaces following Strengths-Based Nursing and Healthcare Leadership training
- Strengths-Based Nursing and Healthcare (SBHN) training program to improve leadership capacity among nurse leaders
- The Facilitated Engagement Approach: a novel approach to guide mentor conversations
- Strategic approach to large scale implementation of Strengths-Based Nursing and Healthcare Leadership across three university health networks
- Providing care during the COVID-19 crisis: Sustained impact on nurses’ health, work satisfaction and turnover intention 18 months after the onset of the pandemic
- Preliminary results of a life-coaching intervention on breast cancer survivors’ post traumatic growth: A parallel group randomized controlled trial.
Welcoming international delegations to ISoN
Among the highlights of the congress was the opportunity to host visiting delegations from all over the world at the Ingram School of Nursing. As part of the ICN’s official post-conference activities, the ISoN opened its door to ICN attendees for tours of the Satoko Shibata Clinical Nursing Laboratories.
Visitors also included several international groups connected with the ISoN’s SBNH team. Professor Laurie Gottlieb noted, “It was heartening to meet nurses from different parts of the world who wanted to connect with us, learn more about SBNH, and were keen to join our SBNH community.” One such group included a delegation of nursing faculty from Japan who came to learn about SBNH in teaching from ISoN faculty Rosetta Antonacci, Annie Chevrier, Heather Hart, and Laurie Gottlieb. Visiting Professor Yuko Shiraishi commented, “It was a great pleasure to meet you all at McGill University. I cannot thank you enough for your presentation on SBNH and for sending me your valuable materials on SBNH.” The SBNH team hosted several other visitors, including the Interim Dean and faculty from Memorial University in Newfoundland, the Governors from the Philippines Nurses Associations, and a group from Portugal and Mexico. Referring to all the visitors, Professor Gottlieb noted, “We were impressed by their enthusiasm, curiosity, and commitment to SBNH as an approach that expresses the essence of nursing. They see that SBNH presents the path forward to creating a humanized healthcare system built on relationships and partnerships.”
In addition, the school welcomed the Director and faculty members from the School of Nursing at the University of Hong Kong visitors from Estonia and Australia, and other visits organized through the Office of Social Accountability in Nursing.
These engaging interactions will serve to expand our network, opening doors to new opportunities and future partnerships, allowing us to share and learn from different perspectives and establish global collaborations.
Engagement and Networking at the ISoN Booth
The ISoN’s booth in the Exhibition Hall was a popular spot, attracting nurse managers, leaders and frontline nurses from Europe, Latin America, Africa and the Caribbean who sought out McGill’s expertise in curriculum planning, program development and pedagogical approaches. “We met many nurses in leadership positions with a great deal of influence in their home countries. They expressed a clear desire for online learning programs, particularly at the masters and PhD levels,” said Gina Costanzo, Director of the ISoN’s Clinical Partnership Office. Additionally, congress participants were eager to explore potential PhD research collaborations and post-doctoral fellowships, as well as our Nurse Practitioner Program and our Bachelor’s programs. “The McGill name is well recognized and lots of nurses want to send their own children here to study,” Ms. Costanzo noted.
The 2023 ICN Congress was a resounding success, further reinforcing the ISoN’s commitment to excellence in nursing education, research, clinical practice and innovation. The oral presentations received overwhelmingly positive feedback, highlighting the quality and the relevance of our research and the positive contributions of SBNH to the nursing profession.
Full list of ISoN Abstracts accepted at ICN 2023
Oral Presentations:
Girgis J., Gottlieb L., Lavoie-Tremblay M., Borromeo A., Ziegler E., Manning K., Canadian nurse leaders’ understanding of fostering EDI-inclusive workplaces following Strengths-Based Nursing and Healthcare Leadership training.
Lavoie-Tremblay M., Boies K., Clausen C., Manning K., Fréchette J., Gottlieb L. Strengths-Based Nursing and Healthcare (SBHN) training program to improve leadership capacity among nurse leaders.
Durrant, M., Oliver, C., Gottlieb, L., Frechette, J., Lavoie-Tremblay, M. and Cyr, G., The Facilitated Engagement Approach: a novel approach to guide mentor conversations.
Clausen C., Kayser JW., Lizotte J., Lang T., Gottlieb L., Strategic approach to large scale implementation of Strengths-Based Nursing and Healthcare Leadership across three university health networks.
Gélinas, C., Fahim, S., Bastien, C., & Emed, J. Opioid-Induced Respiratory Depression (OIRD) risk screening tool development: An important step for opioid monitoring and patient safety in hospital settings.
Shahiri T., S., Gélinas, C. Are vital signs valid indicators for pain assessesmet in critically ill adults? A narrative review of 20 years of research.
e-Posters:
Hubley P., Durrant M., Gottlieb L., Clausen C., Ways of being and doing capacity framework for Strengths-Based Nursing and Healthcare leaders. International Council of Nurses and the Canadian Nurses Association. International 2023 Congress 1-5 July 2023, Montreal, Canada.
Hart H., Bitzas V., Hanley F., Innovative educational strategies for advancing Strengths-Based Nursing and Healthcare in graduate nursing education and practice. International Council of Nurses and the Canadian Nurses Association. International 2023 Congress 1-5 July 2023, Montreal, Canada.
Oliver, C., Durrant M., Gottlieb L.N., Frechette J., Lavoie-Tremblay, M., Cyr, G., The innovative use of Community of Practice to support mentors in their role. International Council of Nurses and the Canadian Nurses Association. International 2023 Congress 1-5 July 2023, Montreal, Canada.
dos Santos Rodrigues N., Sanzone L., Amaro R., Martins G., International mentoring program using Strengths-Based Nursing and Healthcare in pediatric urology nursing. International Council of Nurses and the Canadian Nurses Association. International 2023 Congress 1-5 July 2023, Montreal, Canada.
Antonacci R., Hart H., Chevrier A. Using a Strengths-Based Nursing and Healthcare approach to support clinical debrief conversations. International Council of Nurses and the Canadian Nurses Association. International 2023 Congress 1-5 July 2023, Montreal, Canada.
Di Feo M., Logue K., Strengths-Based Nursing in clinical teaching. International Council of Nurses and the Canadian Nurses Association. International 2023 Congress 1-5 July 2023, Montreal, Canada.
Gottlieb B., Villeneuve M., Lapierre J., Strengths-Based Nursing and Healthcare (SBNH) knowledge mobilization (KM) program to improve nurses’ workplaces through implementing SBNH and SBNH-Leadership. International Council of Nurses and the Canadian Nurses Association. International 2023 Congress 1-5 July 2023, Montreal, Canada.
Gélinas, C., Wang, C., Richard-Lalonde, M., Houle, J., & Bérubé, M. Persistent pain in adult survivors from the intensive care unit (ICU): How are they doing at 3 months post-discharge?
Gélinas, C., Côté, J., Lavoie-Tremblay, M., Maheu-Cadotte, M. A. and the RRISIQ Group. Providing care during the COVID-19 crisis: Sustained impact on nurses’ health, work satisfaction and turnover intention 18 months after the onset of the pandemic.
Richard-Lalonde, M., Feeley, N., Cossette, S., Clan, L. L., & Gélinas, C. Pilot testing of a patient-oriented music intervention in the intensive care unit: acceptability to nurses. Poster presentation.
Tock, W.L., Maheu C., Angelillo, C., Salaciak, M., Andersen R., Johnson N. A proof-of-concept study of lymfit: A personalized, virtual exercise intervention to improve health outcomes in lymphoma survivors in the pandemic.
Maheu, C., Parkinson, M., Tock, W.L., Singh, M., Johnson, K. Work ability and quality of life outcomes of cancer survivor participants in a vocational rehabilitation led return to work pilot intervention
Tock, W. L., Maheu, C., Lee, V., Meterissian, S., Blondin, S. Preliminary results of a life-coaching intervention on breast cancer survivors’ post traumatic growth: A parallel group randomized controlled trial.
Jean-Jacques, B., Daniel, N.E., Korab, M., Beaubrun, A., Devalice, R. Student-led maternal workshops for Black communities.
Lapierre, J., Lemay, J., Moubarak, N., Filion, F., Goyer-Pétrin, G., Aboulhouda, I., Haffar, S., et Gauthier, M. Astéria : pratique infirmière et dépistage précoce, intervention et accompagnement de femmes victims de violence conjugale.
Ottonello, G., Carnevale, C., Bagnasco, A. Food-related moral experiences of children with swallowing difficulties: an inclusive methodology for doing research with an unheard population of children.