Florence Network

Last updated
The Florence Network
Named after Florence Nightingale
President
Susan Schärli-Lim, Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), Winterthur
Vice-President
Jana Nemcova, Comenius University, Bratislava
Website https://sites.google.com/site/theflorencenetworkeu/home

The Florence Network is a cross-nation European co-operation of nursing and midwifery departments from 18 countries. It includes a total of 38 institutions across Europe. It focuses on international cooperation over educational and scientific issues, with the aim to develop and increase the quality of higher education in nursing, midwifery and health care. In this way the organization works to improve the image of the profession and to raise the profile of nursing and midwifery within Europe. [1]

Contents

Primary goals

The Florence Network's stated goals are principally concerned with European nursing and midwifery. They include organising student and lecturer exchange between network members, improving curriculum quality and facilitating research collaboration.

It is hoped that the network will help with identified issues in nursing, such as an aging workforce, nursing shortages in higher-income EU countries, workplace dissatisfaction in lower-income countries, and a need for more culturally sensitive healthcare. [2]

Member Countries

Institutions join the network by invitation only, [3] but do not pay membership fees. [2] As of 2019, forty higher education institutions (HEIs) from the following European nations are members of the network:

Annual meeting

Every year one of the partners - institutions of higher education (Universities of applied Sciences) is the host institution for the annual meeting.

References

  1. Florence Network Official Guidelines and Regulations. 2015.
  2. 1 2 Mantzoukas, Stefanos; Schärli-Lim, Susan; Kelly, Hélène (January 2021). "The impact of The Florence Network in advancing nursing and midwifery in Europe" . Nurse Education in Practice. 50: 102919. doi:10.1016/j.nepr.2020.102919. ISSN   1471-5953. PMID   33227617. S2CID   227156909 via Elsevier Science Direct.
  3. Power, Alison (2018-01-02). "Beyond Brexit: Cross-border collaborations in pre-registration midwifery education". British Journal of Midwifery. 26 (1): 57–59. doi: 10.12968/bjom.2018.26.1.57 . ISSN   0969-4900.