Diplomatic World_nummer 56.

NURSING EMPOWERMENT
IN MOSCOW
Irena, a head nurse in a Moscow hospital, surprised
us with an unexpected visit to the Sheba Medical
Center. “I am so proud”, she said, “for the first
time in my career I was permitted to develop a new
program for the benefit of our patients”. Irena is one
of 300 nurses who participated in SMC’s training
program.
Following a successful collaboration with the Ministry of
Health of Moscow, Sheba International was asked to help
identify the advantages of the Moscow health system which
could be used in order to upgrade and promote the entire
regional heath care system.
The one strength which very clearly stood out very clearly
was the quality of the nurses in Moscow. Very well educated
and trained, highly qualified, smart and ambitious, Moscow’s
nurses are an endless resource of wisdom, combined with
aspiration and remarkable abilities, waiting only for the
health system to appropriately use their capabilities.
The main challenge in this case was the inherent cultural
hospital working environment that inspired us to propose
a dual plan — to simultaneously work with the clinical
directors of the hospitals and to empower the nurses. This
way, working both from top to bottom and from bottom to
top, we doubled our chance of success and also shortened
the time required to implement changes.
nurses who participated in our program of training and
continual guidance and support.
In the words of Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer of
Facebook: “Motivation comes from working on things we
care about. It also comes from working with people we care
about.” (Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In: Women, Work, and the
Will to Lead)
The empowerment of Moscow’s nurses has stimulated and
motivated them to make important and significant changes
affecting the health and wellbeing of their community.
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Over 300 senior nurses in Moscow undertook this training
and empowerment program. Following the training sessions
we continued meeting with the nurses every 4 to 6 months,
to hear of their progress and to encourage them to continue
to initiate and influence their working environment for
the benefit of the patients and staff. The nurses have been
able to initiate many new projects such as patient and staff
satisfaction surveys, reorganization of the Intensive Care
Unit, standards for patient’s privacy and dignity, guidelines
to enable family members to accompany emergency room
patients and even the establishment of a new bus line from
the nearest Metro station to the 120 year old hospital. These
are only some of the unbelievable accomplishments of the