Novartis Award -2010
Published: 15 March 2010
RCN Ophthalmic Nurses Forum & Novartis Award 2010
Novartis has generously agreed continued sponsorship for this award and this year's winners could go to the American Academy of Ophthalmologists and American Society of Registered Nurses Conference in Chicago in 2010. Aletrnatively, they could go to another meeting of their choice, perhaps the Royal Australia and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (RANZCO) meeting or the Pan-Asian Ophthalmology Meeting in 2011.
Let's talk!
We may not think that our ideas and innovations are anything out of the ordinary, that they are not particularly new or clever and believe there's no reason to talk about them. Often, however, they are… and we should!
Small improvements make a big difference to patients, especially if everyone does them. So - think of what you've done to improve the patient's experience… enter it for the award… and perhaps you'll be on a flight to America or Australia next year (you don't need to present your paper there, just enjoy the conference).
What it takes
Application for the award (of which there are three that may be given on an individual or joint basis) involves you writing about a development in nursing practice that has benefits for patients and patient care. The £2,000 award will finance your visit in 2010 and your RCN Conference place in 2011.
Your submission may be about any aspect of nursing and service provision and one of the awards is specifically for submissions that reflect improvements in patient care in the field of age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
The RCN Ophthalmic Nursing Forum will ensure your work gets the recognition it deserves. You'll need to be prepared to present your initiative at our conference in 2011 and have it published in Eyelines.
RCN/Novartis Educational Award: improving care for ophthalmic patients
The award is designed to encourage entry from all nurses who work in ophthalmology. It will reward nurses who have developed specific projects that have made a practical difference to patients' lives.
To enter the award you need to be:
a registered nurse
a member of the RCN Ophthalmic Nursing Forum
the holder of a valid UK passport.
If successful, you must be:
able to secure holiday / study leave to travel for the conference
prepared to present your initiative at the RCN Ophthalmic Nursing Forum conference in 2011
prepared to have your submission printed in the forum's newsletter.
The closing date for entries is Friday 30th April 2010. The winner will be chosen by mid-May and will attend their chosen conference later in the year.
How to enter:
We want to know what your initiative was, in less than 1,000 words. We'd like you to write your entry along the following lines, using the STAR approach:
S - Situation - What was the situation before you had the idea for patient care improvement? What problem needed solving? What issue did you need to address? What prompted your idea?
T - Task - What did you decide to do? How did you decide what to do? Who was involved in the decision-making process? Were there other ideas that were rejected? How did you get approval for your plan?
A - Action - What did you actually do? Who was involved in the project? What issues or challenges did you face in putting the plan into action? How did you deal with them?
R - Result - What was the outcome? How did you measure it? What do you plan to do next?
All you need to do to enter is email your entry to Janet Marsden, including:
name
position
RCN membership number
workplace
telephone number.
You also need to give the name and contact details of a referee who can substantiate your work.
Entries will be judged anonymously by a panel of ophthalmic professionals.
If you want to discuss your ideas for submission, do get in touch with Janet, or with any other member of the forum steering committee:
Yvonne Needham
Mary Stott
Sandy Taylor
Stephen Craig
Jenny Nosek
Mary Shaw