New Year Greetings from the ISNCC President
by Stella Bialous, University of California, San Francisco, United States. ISNCC President.
Dear colleagues,
I am excited to welcome 2016!
I am looking forward to working with all of you to continue to expand the reach of ISNCC’s network, and the range of our educational resources. More than ever, we need to work together to reach global targets for the reduction of premature mortality due to cancer, increase access to prevention and to palliative care, and reduce the incidence of cancer risk factors, including tobacco use (for the WHO Global targets on Non-communicable diseases, see http://www.who.int/nmh/global_monitoring_framework/en/). In 2016 ISNCC will continue to provide nurses with avenues for learning and networking, as well as promote evidence-based education, practice, research and policy that will contribute to optimal nursing care across the cancer continuum.
The last few days of 2015 gave me an opportunity to look back at all that we, together, accomplished on behalf of ISNCC. Among many accomplishments, ICCN 2015 in Vancouver was a big success. Several of the ideas and connections that originated at ICCN 2015 will continue to develop in 2016 into tangible initiatives that will benefit ISNCC and our network.
Our partnership with Cancer Nursing Journal continues to grow and I am looking forward to seeing more ISNCC members’ articles in print in 2016. I hope your New Year’s resolutions include submitting manuscripts with the results of the wonderful research presented in Vancouver to the Journal! Do not forget to update your ISNCC membership to include access to the Journal’s full content.
ISNCC is only as strong as the strength of our network and partnerships. Our first annual report (http://www.isncc.org/?page=ISNCCAnnualReport) outlined some of these partnerships, which continue to grow. In November 2015 we signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Asian Oncology Nursing Society (AONS). We also expect to sign MOUs with the Canadian Association of Nurses in Oncology (CANO/ACIO) and the International Psycho-Oncology Society (IPOS) in the near future. Furthermore, we are in the process of renewing our MoUs with the European Oncology Nursing Society (EONS), the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) and the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC). These partnerships will help further strengthen ISNCC’s network.
In 2015 we launched several educational initiatives developed through grants from corporate and philanthropic partners. I invite you to view them at ISNCC Insight, the online educational platform for ISNCC members (http://www.isncc.org/?page=Insight). These educational initiatives are making a difference in cancer care. We look forward to even more joint activities with our partners and members, including joint sessions at conferences, position statements, and press releases.
As we know, nurses do not celebrate past accomplishments for very long. So as 2016 begins, we are already moving full force ahead to develop an even better year for ISNCC, and our members and partners. We have several more educational initiatives in development, and our committee volunteers continue to steadfastly work towards bringing more networking and educational opportunities to nurses globally.
A big focus for us is, of course, finalizing the program for our International Conference on Cancer Nursing (ICCN) 2016 in Hong Kong (September 4-7, 2016). The Conference Management Committee has been very busy and it seems that once again the conference is poised to exceed expectations. But the success of ICCN 2016 depends on the participation and involvement of all of us. I am sure you are looking forward to this meeting as much as I am, and what better way to start the year than to submit an abstract?
I wish you all a healthy and peaceful 2016, and I will see you in Hong Kong!
Cheers,
Stella Aguinaga Bialous
ISNCC President