Stop TB Partnership

Nursing project to provide evidence for the adoption of best practice

20 March 2013 - Geneva - The International Council of Nurses (ICN), in collaboration with the Lilly MDR-TB Partnership, has launched the 2013-2017 phase of its TB project. The project will focus on collecting evidence on how best practices in nursing can improve patient care, strengthen health systems and save lives.

"Nurses have practical ideas about how care can be improved," said David C. Benton, Chief Executive Officer of the ICN. "But they need support to make changes and gather evidence so others can benefit from their experience. In addition we need to keep them safe which is why infection prevention and the health of health care workers is essential for every health system."

Since 2005, the ICN TB Project has focused on strengthening the role of nurses in TB care, prevention and management and building nursing capacity in countries where TB poses a serious public health threat.

The ICN TB Project builds the capacity of nurses and other health workers to provide safe, quality care to people affected by all forms of TB. The project uses a Training of Trainers methodology, which means that experienced nurses working on TB and HIV are trained to pass on information to nursing colleagues and other health workers.

With funding from the Lilly Foundation, ICN will gather and publish evidence demonstrating the improvements which can be made through investment in nursing.

"ICN’s innovative model of training nurses to pass knowledge on to their colleagues is a powerful way to ensure messages reach beyond the training venue and can be adapted to a variety of settings," said Dr. Evan Lee, head of the Lilly Multi-Drug Resistant-TB Partnership. "We are proud to continue our relationship with ICN and this project."