| International
Council of Nurses, Summer Internship 2003
Source: Betsy White, BSN 2003
“… it truly was a wonderful and incredibly enriching
experience … the majority of my work involved literature
reviews and writing for various publications ICN publishes.
I created two fact sheets, one on menopause and one on the
effects of nursing care on managing hypercholesterolemia;
reviewed two of their position statements, one on scope of
practice for nurse midwives and one on the incorporation of
technology into nursing practice; and drafted a portion of
the ICN’s 2004 International Nurses’ Day publication
on poverty and health. I enjoyed doing these projects, as
they gave me the chance to familiarize myself with the current
state of international research and policy in these areas.
I also used some of my ties to the NSNA to get ICN involved
in the sponsorship of a library for the ICN-Merck Mobile Library
Project, an effort that I found fascinating and exemplary
of how an international organization can make substantial
difference at the local level. ICN has been looking to strengthen
ties with nursing students, so hopefully this will be the
start of a relationship and perhaps enable NSNA to make closer
contact with nursing students in other parts of the world…”
“Another aspect of my internship was attending meetings
at the United Nations and the World Health Organization and
visiting Dr. Naeema Al-Gasseer and her staff at WHO. This
was perhaps my favorite part of the experience – it
allowed me to see in how many different sectors nurses must
involve themselves in order to address issues related to health
and the nursing profession.”
“I attended a week long seminar on the UN Commission
on Human Rights (and sadly visited the office of Sergio Vieira
de Mello, the former High Commissioner of Human Rights, shortly
before he was killed in the UN bombing in Baghdad); and sat
in on a three day meeting of the UN Commission on Trade and
Development in which they were discussing Mode 4 of the WTO’s
General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS) – the
temporary migration of persons for the purposes of providing
services. I attended this with one of the ICN’s Nurse
Consultants whose specialty area is workforce-related issues
and thus deals a lot with things surrounding nursing migration…”
“Overall it was an incredible experience…”
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