Zimba C.C. Omicron DeltaLeadership Education Grant Report
The 27th International Nursing Research Congress Experience: Omicron Delta Leadership Education Grant Report
Prepared by:
Chifundo Colleta Zimba, PhD, GCGH, RN, RM
University of North Carolina (UNC) Project, Lilongwe, Malawi
Submitted to:
Omicron Delta Leadership Education Grant Coordinators
August 2016
Introduction
This report is to express mysincerely gratitude to the grant office of Sigma Theta Tau International and the donors of the Omicron Delta Leadership Education Grantfor the opportunity given to me to attend the 27th International Nursing Research Congress that was held in Cape Town in South Africa between 21st and 25th of July, 2016. The theme for the congress this year was: Leading Global Research: Advancing Practice, Advocacy, and Policy. As a recipient of the 2016 Omicron Delta Leadership Education Grant, I attended the congress as both a presenter and an attendee. The grant helped me to present my work, learn from experienced researchers and colleagues from across the globe and network with fellows whose research interest share mine. Therefore, this report narrates my reflection over the 27th International Nursing Research Congress experience as a recipient of the Omicron Delta Leadership Education Grant.
The Omicron Delta Leadership Education Grant Recipient as a Presenter
The Omicron Delta Leadership Education grant gave me an opportunity to presenta research poster that was part of my PhD dissertation that I just finished in May, 2016 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Nursing in the United States of America. The dissertation research was conducted in Malawi (i.e. my home country). My poster topic was “Perceived Implementation of Guidelines to Prevent Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV in Malawi: A Qualitative Multiple Case Study”. The aim of this poster presentation was to disseminate part of the results that came out of my dissertation study and to educate the global health nurses on the implementation of the prevention of mother-to-child-transmission of HIV guidelines that Malawi adopted in 2011. The poster presentation also includedthe strengths and challenges faced by the four study clinics/cases thatimplemented each of the core components of the Option B+ guidelines that Malawi adopted in 2011; and detailed the gaps that existed in implementation of the Option B+ guidelines and explained how those gaps impact the continuum of care for HIV infected mothers, their families, and their children. Of the results shared at the congress, all the four study clinics/cases reported full implementation of most of the core componentsas detailed by the Malawi Ministry of Health. Using a scale of 0 to 3, implementation ranged from 2.3 to 2.8. However, the poster highlighted some challenges that the study clinics faced. Among others, documentation of the rendered activities; failure to fully sensitize and mobilize the served communities; and failure to identify and ascertain HIV status of the HIV exposed children were the core challenges.The poster presentation called for the global health community to be involved in research that aims to improve implementation of new guidelines and reduce HIV transmission rate in babies born to HIV infected women. Specific to the presented posted, the global health community was informed that further research isrequired to develop and test implementation support strategies that may enhance community awareness; quality documentation; and Early identification of the HIV exposed children in order to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Malawi and beyond.
The Omicron Delta Leadership Education Grant Recipient as a Learner.
The Omicron Delta Leadership Education grant helped me benefit from the following sessions that I attended at the 27thInternational Nursing Research Congress in Cape Town:: Evidence based practice symposium that shared information on “ Giving Nurses Voice in Shaping Evidence-Based Health Policy: Lessons Learned from the front Liners”, “ Advancing Advanced Practice Nurses in Illinois: Challenges in the Land of the American Medical Association”; the workshop on “ How to Publish: An Author Workshop”; presentations on “ Approaches for HIV/AIDS care” just to mention a few were very informative. As a global health nurseand a novice researcher, I was delighted to learn that the nurses around the world are doing research that is contributing to changes of the health care policies. The link that most research had to the United Nations’ Sustainable development goalshelped me to start thinking on how I can integratemy HIV/AIDS systems’ research to helpreduce poverty and improve environmental sustainability in Malawi and beyond. As a scholar whose interest is to reduce HIV transmission to children born to HIV infected women and who has just graduated with a PhD, I feel that the knowledge that I gained at the 27th Sigma Theta Taus’ International research congress will help advance my career.
Conclusion
Participation in 27th Sigma Theta Taus’ International research congressgave me more research opportunities through networking. I had a chance to meet with many experienced nurse leaders, researchers, and educators, whose presentations were inspiring. Meeting with donors and grant coordinators at the tea interaction was a life changing to me. As I saw my fellow grant recipients and held each one of us appreciating how helpful the grant was, I learned the gift of giving. As a professional, I realized that if my fellow nurses who are the donors did not give a hand, I wouldn’t have had a chance to experience the think knowledge that I gained at the congress. Whatever small I can find, I will be able to help in one way or the other.
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