"I think that the commitment to respecting and honouring the drive, the passion and the clinical confidence that exists cross-nationally will allow us to do an even better job of serving those who are most vulnerable, most effectively and more rapidly."
FNP founder David Olds gives an update on the Nurse Family Partnership and the importance of international learning and teamwork.
In March 2019, Professor David Olds visited the UK to deliver the keynote speech on Improving emotional wellbeing and relationships in the family, and at school at the Emanuel Miller Memorial Lecture and National Conference. During his trip he took part in a webinar with FNP sites across England, was interviewed by FNP graduate, Jade Batten and gave an update on the programme in America.
Although they are essentially the same licenced programme, and grounded in the same principles and evidence base, the Nurse Family Partnership and the Family Nurse Partnership are delivered in different social and cultural contexts. Both programmes have had to develop and adapt to reflect the changing needs of the clients and families they work with, creating additions and supplements to the core elements of the programme.
“It’s really critical that we recognise the two fundamental principles that the programme is grounded in: the first is clinical excellence and the second is making decisions based on the very best evidence possible.”
Reflecting on both change and challenge, David discussed the pivotal role that nurse’s play in ensuring the programme continues to be relevant and effective in changing contexts where vulnerabilities are increasing and other early years support services are being reduced.
“The programme itself is always going to be a work in progress. I feel very, very proud to be able to work with such excellent nurses around the world in conducting this programme. I’m also convinced that together we can make this programme even stronger.
“It’s really critical for us to be able to challenge each other: to understand what’s working well and what’s not working well; to use the insights from nurses everywhere to guide our decision-making about where we should focus our efforts; to learn even more and to do this in a significant and rigorous way.
“We are in many ways one big team, and it’s critical that we recognise this and take advantage of the opportunities that exist to learn from one another.”
Speaking about the introduction of specialised elements that are not reflected across all countries, David discussed the fact that learning from these different components is vital to continued success and development of the FNP programme in all countries.
“Sometimes this can be just a matter of communicating and generating on-the-spot decision-making and improvements in practices. Other times it requires more significant investment in formative development of new innovations in the model. Sometimes those innovations might be conducted as they are in England, through the ADAPT programme, to get better at reaching those at greatest risk.
“Sometimes it involves developing new innovations in the programme, like the Intimate Partner Violence or the DANCE observation procedure. All of these pieces maybe developed in one society but if we can share them across societies, we will be in a better position to accelerate our learning and become even stronger together.
“I think that this commitment to respecting and honouring the drive, the passion and the clinical confidence that exists cross-nationally will allow us to do an even better job of serving those who are most vulnerable, most effectively and more rapidly.”
