AstraZeneca, India-Sweden Healthcare Innovation Center launches Nurses Upskilling in NCD program
AstraZeneca India and the India-Sweden Healthcare Innovation Center have jointly launched a specialized training program called Nurses’ Upskilling in NCDs (NUN) program for nurses to equip them with world-class practical knowledge for managing diabetes. In the initial training, 30 nurses from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIIMS), Jodhpur will be trained for two days.
The modules in this program are carefully designed to enable nurses to provide specialized care, essential support services and standardized counseling to patients living with these high incidence non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in India.
India-Sweden Healthcare Innovation Center has been created to address the challenges of healthcare in the country through initiatives such as technology, protocols, processes and the ability to build. This is built under strategic guidance from the Union Health Ministry, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the Government of the Swedish Ministry of Health and Social Affairs and the Swedish Embassy in India as well as the knowledge partners AstraZeneca and NASSCOM.
In a step-by-step manner, this capacity program aims to develop 5,000 nurses across the country in the coming year by converting the current modules to e-learning. The program also aims to expand the current curriculum to other NCD areas including hypertension, cardiovascular disease and oncology.
“Nurses have a transformative power when it comes to tackling all diseases. The primary idea behind this initiative is to create a framework that can improve primary, secondary and tertiary care in India. The program we launch focuses deeply on enriching our nurses with practical knowledge and specific skills required to practice and promote up-to-date patient-centered care, ”says Cecilia Oskarsson, Sweden’s Trade Commissioner to India
According to the WHO, 1 in 4 Indians are at risk of dying from a non-communicable disease before reaching the age of 70. Dr. Sanjeev Misra, Director, AIIMS Jodhpur said: “Nurses are an important stock in all healthcare ecosystems that are crucial to achieving a country’s health and development goals. As part of the India-Sweden Healthcare Innovation Center, we are proud to have developed a scalable training programs that would help nurses not only deliver safe basic health services but also influence and educate patients to understand and manage an NCD. ”
This program is compiled from the rich and diverse resources available in the NCD domain according to the guidelines of the National Program for the Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke (NPCDCS).
“Nurses in our country are an important point of contact that can be used to disseminate accurate medical information to assess and manage these critical lifestyle diseases. Capacitating and educating nurses can prove to be a boon to ensure the delivery of affordable, standardized and safe basic health care services. Through this initiative, we continue our commitment to address the growing burden of NCD by setting up solution-oriented competence centers that can focus on competence development, effective solutions and scalable operations “, says Dr. Anil Kukreja, VP Medical Affairs, AstraZeneca India
The training program is focused on giving nurses the opportunity to better recognize risk factors, causes, pathophysiology, screening methods, diagnostic tests and management of diabetes mellitus, hypertension and other NCDs. They will also be able to advise patients and society on the importance of early and regular screening and the adoption of a healthy lifestyle.
The initiative will be run under the auspices of and under the auspices of an Advisory Committee chaired by Prof Suresh K Sharma, Professor and Rector, College of Nursing, AIIMS, Jodhpur. The Advisory Committee is composed of key dignitaries from AIIMS Delhi, AIIMS Jodhpur, the Directorate-General for Health Services (DGHS), the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the University College of Medical Sciences (UCMS), AstraZeneca India and Business Sweden.