PNAE congresses

Since 2011
Six international PNAE congresses have been held since 2011. The congresses were organized in different countries across Europe to involve much is possible of  the nurses taking care of infants, children and young people and their families in our continent.
 
The previous congresses were:
> 2011 – Istanbul, Turkey
> 2013 – Glasgow, United Kingdom
> 2016 – Porto, Portugal
> 2018 – Athens, Greek
> 2021 – Tartus, Estonia– on-line
> 2023 – Rome, Italy
The 5° international Congress took place in Tartus- Estonia.

It was planned in June 2020, but at cause of Covid -19 pandemia, it was moved on 21-22 May, 2021.

It was the first PNAE Congress on-line.

It was a great opportunity to participate actively. Every nurse  shared experiences, research and innovation in pediatric nursing across Europe and not only!

 In summary the main key note speakers were: 

  • Dr. Adik Levin who presented “Humane Neonatal Care Initiative Acceptance in Hospitals Globally”, he has conducted humanitarian work in medicine for over 25 years, with a special focus on neonatology and the mother / family’s right to be with their child in hospital. In the 1990s, a work called the “Humane Neonatal Care Initiative” (HNCI) was formed at Tallinn Children’s Hospital in Estonia. The initiative was about securing the mother’s rights to be with her sick Newborn or premature baby. This initiative was introduced to 30 countries around the world, and WABA (World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action) prioritized this initiative globally. For more information here is it the link to the HNCI 
  • Dr.Barbara Boutopoulou is a pediatric nurse at the Athens Medical Center and an academic researcher at the Faculty of Nursing, University of Athens, Greece. Her lecture and ‘Nursing Care Models in Pediatric and Neonatal Settings’ was about her special advanced practice: children with respiratory diseases and allergies. She talked about different models to help children cope with their illnesses, both in neonatology and in pediatric wards.
  • Dr. Joseph Manning is a Clinical-Academic Nursing Researcher and Lecturer at the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) at Nottingham Children’s Hospital, and Co-lead of a CYPHR, a research centre in the Univerisyt of Nottingam, United Kingdom. His lecture ‘Optimizing nursing care for children experiencing mental health crisis in acute pediatric settings’ was about the necessity and importance of a holistic approach to children and their families in acute and critical illness, both in the short-term and long-term aspects of the health services offered. The lecture was based on interdisciplinary and extensive research on the topic, with a focus on the mental health of the children and their families
  • Professor Sanna Salanterä is Professor of Clinical Nursing Research at the University of Turku in Finland and leads the research group ‘Digital Nursing Turku’. Her lecture ‘Gamification of children’s health promotion’ was about the use of gambling in the health-promoting work around children. Game specification is about the application of game design elements and game principles outside the game context. These principles can be used for learning, physical training, mastery, etc., in children and young people, etc.
At the parallel sessions, current research and findings from various very interesting studies were presented about topics regarding both neonatology or pediatrics. A great attention in neonatology, was around the work with parent-child attachment and family-centred care at neonatal wards. The multicultural perspective was taken in consideration, too. It was also described the need to increase competence within nurses’ perception of procedure-related pain in Newborns, the use of non-drug pain relief and the importance of involving parents in the care of children in such procedures. 
The focus of lectures in paediatrics was first on the need for the pediatric nurse’s competence in society outside the specialist health service, and the need for the pediatric nurse competence to be used outside the hospitals and reach out to children and young people. About this orientation, the presentations were about the use of games as part of the health-promoting work among children and adolescents, the use of cartoons for children to cope with living with asthma and parents’ experience in children’s diagnosis of cystic fibrosis. Other presentations focused on other issues regarding both health children and young people (as sleep promoting), or children with complex conditions (as congenital heart disease). Finally it was also discussed how the adult generation influences children’s relationship to this ‘ageing’, and that our voice in society should contribute to children’s perception of ageing being positive.

The congress was closed with the announcement that the next PNAE 6th Congress will be held in Italy in 2023. 
We shall look forward to seeing you there! 


The congress abstract book is available on this link