Iceland has led the development of Family Nursing Implementation projects beginning with the first project (2007-2011) at Landspitali University Hospital in Reykjavik, Iceland.
Akureyri Hospital (SAk), in northern Iceland, provides both general and specialized health care services (24-hour) with emphasis on emergency and the major speciality treatments of internal medicine, surgical, and psychiatric services. SAk is a centre of specialized health care services in the northern and eastern part of Iceland and focuses on cooperation with health care institutions in rural areas and participates in the development of national health care. The centre of medical transport air in Iceland is at SAk. It is a teaching hospital affiliated with the University of Akureyri (HA). SAk has received international accreditation for its operation and is the first Nordic healthcare institution that has received such accreditation. The hospital has protocols according to DNV-GL quality procedures.
In late 2016, the Board of Chief Executives of Akureyri Hospital decided to implement the family nursing using Calgary Family Assessment and Intervention Models. The policy and vision of SAk, valid until 2021, states that one of the key aspects of the service is the implementation of family nursing.
In the preparation phase, family nursing was implemented in the Ambulatory, Paediatric, Maternity, inpatient Psychiatric, Intensive care, Rehabilitation and Geriatrics, Internal medicine and surgical wards. Recently, the outpatient Psychiatric ward was added to the project. Head nurses in each ward designated 2 nurses (liaison nurses) to the project. Central quality protocols were elaborated by the liaison nurses and standardized nursing diagnosis were created. All educational materials, information about the implementation, and general information about the project is available to all staff members at SAk.
In the preparation phase, education and skills training were offered to liaison nurses by experts at the National University Hospital of Iceland. Nurses and midwives as well as nurse assistants at SAk were given guidance by the liaison nurses to implement the Calgary Family Assessment (CFAM) and Intervention (CFIM) Models from January to May 2017. Before implementation, all nurses and midwives were asked to complete the Families´ Importance in Nursing Care – Nurses´ Attitude Questionnaire (FINC-NA) and again at 14 months post-implementation. Results from the qualitative data found that nurses and midwives experienced better communication and better collaboration with family members of the patient when the Calgary Family Assessment and Intervention Models were used.
In October 2018, in collaboration with the Continuing Education at the University of Akureyri, the Faculty of Health Science at University of Akureyri and Akureyri Hospital held a four-day Family Externship workshop with Dr. Lorraine M. Wright and Dr. Janice M. Bell which focused on generalist and advanced family nursing intervention knowledge and skills. Participants included health care professionals from Akureyri Hospital (SAk), the Health Care Institution of North Iceland (HSN), the Health Directorate of East Iceland (HSA), National University Hospital of Iceland (LSH), and other health institutions.
In December 2018, the Chief Nursing Executives from SAk, HSN and HSA held a meeting where the project manager and the assistant project manager introduced procedures and protocols of the Calgary Family Assessment and Interventions Models at SAk to invite cooperation and collaboration between institutions who are providing health care services to individual and families in northern Iceland.
In August 2019, members of the Family Nursing Implementation Team from University of Akureyri and Akureyri Hospital presented a poster at the 14th International Family Nursing Conference in Washington, DC. For more information, contact IFNA members: Dr. Eydis Sveinbjarnardottir and Snæbjörn Ómar Guðjónsson.
