Like the much used and respected words of Martin Luther King, Jr., this nurse also "has a dream." In my dream I see nurses from many parts of the world gathered in a city, and I see the headlines in the world news: "Nurse researchers and clinical scholars gathered to discuss and debate (such and such topic) and they decided that the most effective approach to caring for people who suffer from (that health or illness experience) are for nurses to do (such and such intervention)."
In this dream I take part of the reality of nurses from many countries gathered in one city-and add to it what I wish would happen, should happen, could happen. I wish that nurses would make headlines with a collective voice, and, more importantly, that collective scholarship would drive policies that become the gold standard for nursing actions throughout the world (Meleis, 2002).
The International Nurses Society on Addictions (IntNSA) shares this dream, and the "blanks" are filled with the subject "addiction" and the collective impact that nurses working across the globe can have to expand biopsychosocial-spiritual care of this "health or illness experience."
The history of IntNSA reaching out to nurses living outside the United States, to explore what these nurses were doing in their respective countries in the specialty of addictions nursing, spans over the last 2 decades. In 1997, IntNSA, then the National Nurses Society on Addictions (NNSA), formed an "International Task Force" with the goal of getting in touch with nurses in other countries to enquire about what they were doing regarding addiction care, practice, and research. It was actually yours truly who suggested this Task Force.
When I was younger, at the age of 14-15 years, I had a wonderful experience living in Swansea, Wales, when my father studied metallurgy at the University of Wales in Swansea. I came away with a love of the Welsh and British people and, later as a nurse, wondered what other nurses were doing, not only in Britain but also in other countries in terms of addictions nursing. An inspiring article published in 1992 in the International Nursing Review, the official publication of the International Council of Nurses (ICN), reviewed the significance of the role of the nurses in leading healthcare workers throughout the world in ameliorating the public harms that "substance abuse" causes (Sheehan, 1992).
In reaching out to nurses in the London, England area, it was discovered that the Association of Nurses in Substance Abuse (ANSA) was an established and active organization of addiction nurses in the United Kingdom. A quick "email" between myself and then Chair of ANSA, Carmel Clancy, in London resulted in an invitation to me to attend the annual ANSA Conference in Nottingham, England, in April 1998. It is important to write about this history as this serendipitous meeting, not only with Carmel Clancy but also with the other members of ANSA, truly was an amazing spring board forward to where IntNSA is today (more on that later).
It was at the Nottingham conference that a group of nurses came together to discuss how we might collaborate more together regarding our commonalities and learning of differences, which may be helpful in the practice of addictions nursing. I have to mention here that Carmel Clancy, Raj Boyjoonauth, and Patrick Coyne are to be well regarded for their work in this area and their enthusiasm going forth in collaborating with NNSA.
Earlier in this year (1997), Raj Boyjoonauth had looked forward to attending the ICN Quadrennial Congress held in Vancouver, Canada, as he was eager to hear and learn about the practice of addictions nursing in different countries other than the United Kingdom. To his disappointment, there was an absence of papers presented on addiction topics at the ICN Congress. However, it was Raj Boyjoonauth's observation from this ICN that led to the decision by this group in Nottingham to submit a number of topics on substance abuse to the upcoming ICN Centennial Meeting to be held in London, in June 1999. Success! There were 12 papers submitted by the IntNSA and ANSA members, and six of these papers were selected for presentation at the 1999 ICN Congress (Murphy-Parker & Boyjoonauth, 2002).
In addition to the paper presentations, the members of this international team worked with the ICN organizers and planned a satellite meeting at the ICN inviting any and all nurses interested in attending to discuss the nursing role in alcohol, tobacco, drug misuse, and addiction. Again, to our amazement, over 50 nurses attended this 2-hour gathering. There were nurses from Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Spain, and of course, the United States and United Kingdom, who were eager to discuss and share knowledge on what the best practices were in this area of nursing. It was also a realization that so many nurses in so many countries, although keen to have this knowledge and support, were struggling alone, and this meeting/conversation was only "the tip of the iceberg" in addressing the support and education needed. Indeed, the London ICN gave wind and further strengthened the international collaboration among international addiction nurses.
Because of the success of the satellite meeting at the ICN Centennial in London, another successful satellite meeting was planned and held at the ICN in Copenhagen, Denmark, in June 2002. It was in Copenhagen, Denmark, where international attendees had the opportunity to meet Charlotte de Crespigny, the President of Drug and Alcohol Nurses Association (DANA) of Australasia (Australia and New Zealand). After this, two more gatherings of nurses from different countries were held in Adelaide, Australia, at a DANA Annual Conference in April 2003 and at the ICN in Taiwan in 2005.
Simultaneously, during this time, IntNSA was experiencing international growth, and the organization's name was changed from NNSA to IntNSA in 2000. The incentive for the name change stemmed from the merging of the three national nursing organizations focused on addictions, which existed in the United States: NNSA, the Consolidated Association of Nurses in Substance Abuse, and DANA. When the three organizations merged, it had been agreed to by all that there would be a name change; thus, IntNSA was born. A paper written at that time (Murphy-Parker, 2000) asked the question, "Does this change of name to 'International' mean we are an organization with an international focus and we will have 'chapters' worldwide, similar to Sigma Theta Tau? If so, will the purpose of these chapters be to work together internationally and collaboratively to impact the worldwide and global public health issues of substance abuse and addictions?"
This question became one of the cornerstone of my presidency in IntNSA when I was elected as President, effective in October 2014. I encouraged Carmel Clancy of ANSA in the United Kingdom to come on the Board of IntNSA. She was elected in October 2014. Carmel Clancy was appointed as the Chair of IntNSA's "International Task Force" with the mandate to facilitate IntNSA's international membership and international chapters' growth.
At the IntNSA strategic planning held in Philadelphia in March 2015, where the full Board of Directors (BOD) and Ex-Officios of the organization were in attendance, a strategy for developing international chapters and growing IntNSA internationally was presented. This strategy was based on developing IntNSA chapters and members mapped out as similar to the World Health Organization regions, and the full Board eagerly adopted this plan. With this, it is understood that different regions must maintain their own identity reflecting individual cultural, political, and environmental characteristics, and IntNSA intends to establish six "regional head offices," and each regional office will elect their own governing President and BOD, which in turn, eventually, will feed into the "International Board" over the six regions.
At this writing, IntNSA has made terrific gains in increasing International Chapters, which of course increases IntNSA's international membership. Ireland was our first International Chapter, and Ireland held an "Ireland IntNSA Conference" this past June, which had over 120 attendees. It was remarkable, and hats off to Peter Kelly, President of Ireland IntNSA! Similarly, our second IntNSA Chapter, the Holland IntNSA Chapter, held an IntNSA "mini-conference" within a Holland Mental Health Conference at the end of June this year. Another "tip of the hat" to Yvonne Slee, President of the Holland IntNSA Chapter.
Other established chapters of IntNSA include Brazil and Canada. Divane Vargas, President of the Brazil Chapter, is a newly elected member of the IntNSA BOD. This office should prove very beneficial in establishing the Brazilian Chapter. Sue Newton, of Calgary, Canada, is the President of our Canadian Chapter and is working diligently with other Canadian IntNSA members to hold a 1-day IntNSA Conference within the International Society on Addictions Medicine, which will be held on October 21 this year in Montreal. This is the second consecutive year in a row that IntNSA has been invited to have a 1-day conference within the International Society on Addictions Medicine conference. The first one occurred in October 2015, in Dundee, Scotland.
In addition, at this time, there is an ongoing discussion that ANSA of the United Kingdom will become an IntNSA chapter. In addition, we have nurses in Israel, Albania, Japan, and Korea who are looking into IntNSA chapter development in their respective countries.
There is great excitement within our organization, and IntNSA's future is bright, as we are simultaneously growing more national and international chapters. A future plan is to hold an International Conference somewhere outside the United States in the Year 2020. The theme of the conference will be "Global Addictions: 20/20" and will be planned well in advance with the hope that as many members of IntNSA worldwide will attend. I think it can be at this time that IntNSA can help Afaf Meleis (2002) to fill in the blanks, which is one of my visions for the future of the IntNSA.
Like the much used and respected words of Martin Luther King, Jr., this nurse also "has a dream." In my dream I see nurses from many parts of the world gathered in a city, and I see the headlines in the world news: "Nurse researchers and clinical scholars gathered to discuss and debate addiction and they decided that the most effective approach to caring for people who suffer from addiction are for nurses to discuss evidence based practice for addiction."
In this dream I take part of the reality of nurses from many countries gathered in one city-and add to it what I wish would happen, should happen, could happen. I wish that nurses would make headlines with a collective voice, and, more importantly, that collective scholarship would drive policies that become the gold standard for nursing actions for addictions care throughout the world" (Meleis, 2002).
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