International Conference EIP 2015

The conference was inaugurated by Shri U T Khader, Honourable Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Government of Karnataka as the chief guest in the presence of Vice Chancellor of Manipal Academy of Higher Education, heads of constituent institutions of Manipal Academy of Higher Education, International/ National speakers as well as the delegates of the conference on 24th January 2015 at 11AM.

Dr Anice George, Dean, Manipal College of Nursing Manipal and Director of Nursing Education, Manipal Academy of Higher Education briefed about the institution, the founding Principal Prof. P.P. Bhanumathi and Late Prof. Aparna Bhaduri, and all who have contributed magnificently to the college. She also spoke regarding the growth of the college and the college celebrating its 25 years of glorious existence. She also welcomed the gathering and introduced the chief guest for the day, Shri U T Khader who released the Conference proceedings.

The chief guest, Mr. U T Khader appreciated and congratulated the management of MCON for organizing the International conference of 2 days. He hoped that this conference deliberations would help in bringing about a network of nurses, so in the longer run the patients will be dealt with efficiently. He stressed that, “The Hospital can be run without the doctors but a hospital, can’t be run without the nurses” affirming that “Nursing is a noblest profession of all.” He called upon the nurses to remember their pledge, when in service”
 

“It is not what you treat, but how you treat. The society needs you” he told them. He congratulated MCON as one of the model college among the numerous colleges in Karnataka and also in the world. He also emphasized to the nursing delegates present in the gathering, to give awareness along with other treatment measures they provide to their patients. This he said, would go a long way in preventing illness among common people.

Dr. K Ramnarayan, Vice Chancellor, MU, Manipal presided over the function and released the Abstract book: Evidence from the portals of MCON and addressed the gathering. He thanked Mr. U T Khader for sharing his thoughts on this occasion. He mentioned that “Conferences should be able to first inspire, then influence and finally inform the delegates. He also voiced his concern, that this is an age of Heutogogy, where students don’t want to be told what and how to study. So he asked that expert resource person of the conference to share their expertise, have the ability to engage the audience with their explaining ability, be enthusiastic and evoke interest in the subject being taught.

Dr. Tessy Treesa Jose, Professor and organizing secretary of the International conference gave an overview of the conference. The inaugural programme was concluded by vote of thanks by Dr. Judith A. Noronha, Associate Dean, MCON Manipal. The master of ceremony for the programme was Ms Lakra Alma Juliet Francis, Assistant Professor, MCON, Manipal. Dr. Surendra Nayak, District Health Officer was also present in the function.
 

Conference Day 1:

The first plenary session was dealt by Dr.Elissa Ladd (PhD, APRN-BC, ANP/FNP), Associate Professor, Nursing, MGH Institute of Health Professionals, Massachusetts, USA in her speech on Critical Appraisal of the evidence: The Heart of Clinical Decision Making. She emphasised on importance of EBP in clinical and health care system.

The second session was by Dr. B. Unnikrishnan, Associate Dean, Professor and Head, Dept. of Community Medicine, Kasturba Medical College Mangalore on Evidence informed health systems and policies in which he mentioned that “ The most important thing in evidence in information”. He affirmed that one has to read articles every day to keep up to date with information.

Another international speaker Dr.Sheelagh Martindale (PhD, MSc, RCGP/ATC Diploma), Head of Professional Development, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK spoke on Evidence based practice in Nursing Education and how important evidence is for nursing practice.

The afternoon session began with Evidence Based Practice in low and middle income countries: Challenges and opportunities by Dr. Sreekumaran Nair, Professor and Head, Dept. of Statistics, Manipal Academy of Higher Education. He spoke on good policy making and the importance of local evidence. He mentioned that conflict of interests do not interfere with good policy making.

Integrating evidence in to nursing practice was dealt by Dr. Preethy D’Souza, Information specialist, Japanese Cochrane center Reviews & Research consultant, University College London. She gave importance to the importance of translating evidence into practice.
 

Conference Day 2:

The conference deliberations continued with the next day’s plenary session by an international eminent speaker Dr. Denise F Polit (PhD, FAAN), Professor, Griffith Health Institute, Griffith University, Queensland. She spoke on Faculty Empowerment in teaching Research. In her speech she told that “ Teaching research methods to nursing students is challenging, so when we teach, we should be simple, emphasizing on the main concepts” She stressed on use of ice breakers. “Everything is data, every study tells us the concept about the human story.” Further, she stressed on interactive learning and hands-on activity.

The plenary session was led by Dr. Kader Parahoo, Professor, Institute of Nursing and Health Research University of Ulster, Coleraine, Northern Ireland spoke on Quality Improvement: Role of evidence. He enlightened the delegates regarding the importance of listening to the patients, emphasizing that listening to patients is the key to quality improvement, because patients have a lot to offer. Again, he mentioned that quality improvement is cultural dependent. “Be millennium teachers to teach millennium students.”
 

Evidence informed health care: Strategies to overcome challenges and constraints was dealt by Dr. Ramachandra, Additional Professor, Department of Nursing, NIMHANS (Deemed University), Bangalore. He told that one should be careful regarding the evidence, since they could be data which is made up. So, one has to be cautious about the falsified data.

Dr. Anice George, Professor and Dean, Manipal College of Nursing Manipal, Manipal Academy of Higher Education spoke on Evidence based Health care decision making: Role of Stake holders. To implement the evidence into practice by professionals, need to be in context with stakeholders. She mentioned that for proper decision making, in an academic setting, students are the stakeholders and in the clinical setting, patients are the stakeholders.

Oral and poster presentations were held on 25th January 2015 between 11:30 AM to 1.30 PM.
 

Another major event of the day was the valedictory function at 4 pm. Dr. Denise F. Polit, Professor, Griffith Health Institute, Griffith University, Queens land Australia was the chief guest. In her speech she shared that her 3 days experience in Manipal was an enriching one and it has given her new innovation and emphasized on Quality Improvement. She had an opportunity to meet other people in the area of research. She also distributed the prizes for best poster, oral paper presentation and Conference Logo. The function was presided over by Dr. G. K. Prabhu, Registrar, Manipal Academy of Higher Education Manipal who also presented the memento to the judges of the poster competition. In his speech he stressed that as nursing is a noble profession and nurses are responsible for everyone, so they need to have understanding and empathy in them.

Concluding remarks of the Conference was given by Dr. Tessy Treesa Jose, Professor and organizing secretary of the conference.Conference delegates gave the response of the conference. Ms. Manjula, Assistant Professor, Manipal College of Nursing Manipal proposed vote of thanks which was followed by National Anthem.The Master of Ceremony for the programme was Mrs. Prima Jenevive Jyothi D’Souza , Lecturer, Manipal College of Nursing Manipal.