XXth SNA Biennial National Conference--a report, The

Nursing Journal of India, Mar 2003 by Devi, Suvarnalatha

Kerala is a highly sophisticated place with culture and heritage, blessed with the beautiful landscape. The fine lakes and waters, the coconut trees, the paddy fields and hills have enriched the land of Cochin named the 'Queen of Arabian Sea.'

It is on this land, the 201 SNA Biennial National Conference was hosted for the 1st time in 40 years.

Education is an ongoing process. Nursing education is continuously evolving, with newer and wider arena of knowledge being added to this dynamic and demanding profession. As today leads to tomorrow and the seeds sown today are reaped tomorrow. The theme ofthe SNA Biennial Conference, "Today's Nursing Education, Vision for the Future," fits well to the situation.

November 26th Tuesday, 2002

Registration started from 8 am and continued till 28th, and out of total 1370 members registered, 406 were THAI members and 964 SNA members. All most all the states and Union Territories of India represented in the conference. The executive and council meetings were held at Ashirbhavan prior to the conference.

November 27th Wednesday, 2002

Sports competition was held at Southern Naval Command Stadium, Naval base, Cochin. It has been a good opportunity for the competants to test their talents. Competitions were held for the items like 100-meter race, discus throw and Javelin throw, both for mate and female student nurses.

In sports competition, Karnataka won the highest points followed by Kerala. Everyone participated with great sports spirit. Simultaneously Scientific exhibits were displayed at Ashirbhavan. Punjab stood in the forefront for the exhibition, Meghalaya second and Kerala the third. Simultaneously the SNA General Committee meeting was held at Ashirbhavan. Mean while press conference took place at the press club, Ernakulam. A Separate Nursing Directorate should be constituted, a unified nursing education is to be implemented, Higher education and experience in cardiology should be given to nurses, reconstitution of Kerala Nursing Council, an additional director and a joint director are to be appointed in the directorate were the demands raised by the office bearers of the Association at the press conference. THAI council meeting continued from 2 pm to 5 pm at Ashirbhavan.

Cultural event added more colours to the day. Floor decoration and on the spot painting competitions were conducted at the Lissie Hospital Auditorium. There were 10 participants in these competitions from different states of India. Kerala got the first prize for on the spot painting and the second prize went to Maharashtra and the third prize was received by Tamil Nadu. For floor decoration Uttar Pradesh stood first, second Punjab and Andhra Pradesh was awarded third place. National Integration was the theme of the competition.

Simultaneously the recitation competition both in Hindi and English were held on the theme "Empowered Nurse" at Town Hall. For Hindi, Madhya Pradesh was given first prize, Maharashtra second and Goa the third. For English recitation, Mizoram got first, Madhya Pradesh second and Meghalaya got the third prize.

Health Education Competition on the theme `move for family health' was started by 2.30 pm and continued till 6 pm. This theme was interpreted in a variety of presentations like skit, drama, poetry and puppet show. There were about 16 participants from all over India. Kerala was awarded first prize, Delhi was given the second place and Madhya Pradesh the third place.

The host team, Kerala has tried their level best to take the tired minds to the land of music and art, through the variety entertainment programme, depicting the magnificent and unmatchable traditional dances of Kerala. These few moments made the audience to taste the culture of Kerala evoking a desire to discover it more.

November 28th Thursday,2002

Delegates generously donated to the 'Purse Money', approximately Rs. 67,283,/-. Their gesture was appreciated by President and Hony. Treasurer TNAI.

The next event of the day was the plenary session - I on the subtheme -"Nursing-A Practice Discipline". Prof. K.M. Mariam introduced the theme. Mrs. Abanti Gopan, in her keynote address emphasized on the subtheme and concluded that nurses should be able to bring the multicultural communities under one roof and should have a multifacete role.

This was followed by scientific paper presentation on the "Study of the public opinion regarding independent Nursing practices in the community, presented by the IV year B.Sc. Nursing students from College of Nursing, Bhilai. The main objective of the study was assessing public view regarding the acceptance of independent nursing practice. The conclusion was as majority thought that nursing is caring profession. All didn't accept independent nursing practice. Analysis of B.Sc. (N) Programme was carried out by IV year B.Sc. (N) students from CSI, College of Nursing, Madurai. The goal of the study was to move towards an educative curricula where teachers and students are allies in the discovery of knowledge. They have made recommendations like; nursing education should follow developments in Health and Medical technology. They emphasized two types of evaluation techniques of clinical skill. They are objective structure clinical evaluation (O.S.CE.) and the clinical concept mapping, which promotes critical thinking and prepares students for clinical experience. Inaugural Session: