Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Nursing organized an online “Nursing Week Celebration Program” within the scope of the 12-18 May International Nursing Week, which is celebrated all over the world. The program, which took place on Tuesday, 18 May 2021, between 13:30 and 15:00, included a panel titled “The Theme of the International Nurses Association 2021 and Being a Nurse in the Pandemic” and a story contest titled “Nursing Stories from Our Students: Towards Graduation in the Pandemic Process”.
Nursing Week Celebrated
Organized with the intensive participation of EMU Nursing Department students and academic staff, the event started with the opening speeches of EMU Rector Prof. Dr. Aykut Hocanın, Health Sciences Faculty Dean Prof. Dr. Mehtap Malkoç and Head of Nursing Department Prof. Dr. Sevinç Taştan. In the opening speeches, the nursing week of graduate and student nurses was celebrated, and it was pointed out that the place and importance of nurses in the health system has increased with the COVID-19 pandemic affecting the whole world, and the importance of training qualified nurses was emphasized once again.
Difficulties of the Nursing Profession in the Pandemic Evaluated
In the panel moderated by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Gülten Sucu Dağ, the International Council of Nurses (ICN) set a theme each year for the world nurses to discuss and find solutions to the issue within the framework of important and prioritized social health problems, and in this context, Nurses: A Voice to Lead - A vision for future healthcare” has been set as this year’s theme. One of the panel guests, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hülya Fırat Kılıç, in her presentation titled " Nurses: A Voice to Lead - A vision for future healthcare ", emphasized the knowledge, power and support required for nursing, maintaining the care and treatment of individuals and families with health-related needs, and improving the health of healthy individuals in the pandemic process. She also touched upon the difficulties of practicing the profession.
Clinical Experiences Shared
In the panel, which continued with Famagusta State Hospital Coronary Intensive Care Nurse Specialist NurseSeher Akbaş's presentation "Being a Clinical Nurse in the Period of Pandemic", the experiences and memories of the clinic during this period were shared and it was observed that intense emotions were experienced among the participants. The story of İmran Aldemir, who was the winner of the story contest with her story "Being a Student Nurse in the Period of Pandemic", was rather beneficial in terms of sharing and understanding the positive and negative feelings about the pandemic process from the eyes of the students. Finally, in the event, which was completed with a question and answer session and the awarding of the students who ranked high in the story contest, the certificates of appreciation presented to the participants and the speakers and the awards were presented to the winners.
