The First International Nursing Conference in Kurdistan Region of Iraq was successfully held in the two past days (7th and 8th July, 2021) under the title of “The future of nursing and healthcare in Kurdistan”. The conference was held by Nursing & Midwifery Development Centre in Erbil, was hosted and co-organized by the college of Nursing of the American University of Kurdistan, and was supported by the Open Think Tank.
The conference was initiated by the Nursing & Midwifery Development Centre in Erbil in 2019 in collaboration with the Open Think Tank, but due to the global pandemic of COVID-19, the conference was not held in its intended time, which was in 2020.
Due to the global travel restrictions and in order to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19, the conference was transformed to online format. The conference hosted many international keynote speakers, local representatives, and nurses, that made up to 120 participants from all around the world. It is worth mentioning that during the conference twenty research/projects/papers were also presented.
The keynote speakers were from the USA and Canada, including AUK Dean of Nursing, Dr. Susie Chen, who presented two important topics: Core Measures, a must-know in nursing practice and education, and High-Fidelity Simulation for nursing technology and innovation. Dr. Chen also introduced the conceptual frameworks in developing the AUK nursing bachelor’s degree curriculum from the Core Measures and the concepts of simulation-based education and a high-fidelity simulation lab in AUK.
Under the motto of “Nursing is a life-long learning profession,” the International Nursing Conference in Kurdistan Region is planned to be held yearly. The Second International Nursing Conference is now being planned for 2022 by the Nursing & Midwifery Development Centre. For more information about the Second International Nursing Conference, visit the official website of the conference.