• [Editorial Committee]
• [Research Activity Committee]
• [Clinical Nursing Practice Development Project Committee]
• [International Activities Committee]
• [Public Relations Committee]
• [Disaster Nursing Activities Committee]
• [Red Cross Nursing History Research Committee]

[Editorial Committee]

The editorial committee edits and publishes an academic journal to be used by our growing number of members to disseminate research outcomes in the fields of nursing practice, nursing education, and nursing management. Although the journal is currently published annually, the number of submitted articles is gradually increasing. We hope that the number of submitted and published papers continue to increase in the future. Our committee will continue working to maintain high quality and make the journal more appealing.

[Research Activity Committee]

The three main activities of this committee are holding the nursing research seminar, selecting research grants, and selecting research awards. This fiscal year’s nursing research seminar was on the theme of “literature review”, where Prof. Abe, Yoko from Japanese Red Cross College of Nursing delivered a lecture in May 2019.

There have already been two applications for research grants, and the selection process is underway. Research awards will be awarded for outstanding research from amongst those presented to the society. Because the number of applications has been quite few till date, I would like our members to be aware of this so that they may take advantage of this opportunity.

[Clinical Nursing Practice Development Project Committee]

Red Cross nursing practices incorporate care provided based on one of the Fundamental Principles of the International Red Cross, namely, “humanity”, and with deep respect for human dignity.
Nurses provide care with close attention to the responses of each individual.
However, not all nursing techniques have been clearly established.

• Purpose of activities
  The Committee uncovers nursing techniques that are not yet clear in clinical practice, and conducts dissemination activities that will lead to better nursing practices.
  
• Outline of committee activities
  1) Uncover techniques
  2) Verify techniques
  3) Spread techniques
  At the Annual Conference of the Japanese Red Cross Society of Nursing Science every year, we establish a forum for participants to discuss nursing techniques.
  
• Activities
  FY2022
  With a focus on nursing techniques in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, we plan to uncover techniques in clinical practice.
  
  FY2021
  Opinions were exchanged with a focus on foot care for elderly people. Survey results in Japan indicate that many elderly people aged 65 and older have some kind of foot trouble. However, foot care that supports the daily lives of elderly people is currently not being carried out to the extent needed. It has been demonstrated that improvements occur with interventions by nurses. Foot care techniques were introduced so that they could be incorporated in regular care.

Care with a podiatry probe
• Scrape away the cuticle or unwanted debris between the nail and skin.
• During this process, confirm where the border between the nail and skin is located.
In the case of onychocryptosis (ingrown nail), confirm the extent to which the nail is embedded in the skin.
Some probes for ingrown nails have a file on the tip, as in the photo (right)
• Prevent cutting the nail too short by confirming the border with the nail

Excerpt from foot care techniques (nail care with a podiatry probe)

FY2019
The subjects of “Foot and wound care” and “Grief care” were introduced and opinions were exchanged.
(Refer to the URL below)
URL 20.pdf (umin.ac.jp)

This committee was launched in the third term by the Board of Directors to promote activities concerning the evaluation and enhancement of operations, such as the Medical Fee Reimbursement System and the Nursing Care Compensation Structure of the Social Insurance Union Societies Related Nursing. This committee’s purpose is to discover techniques and skills in clinical practice, to validate them, and to disseminate them.

The committee’s activities are advancing into the fourth term. During the third term, the committee reviewed, under the theme of “the establishment and spread of one-set care for the elderly with dementia,” cases of practice concerning elderly people suffering with dementia relating to activities, such as eating and bathing, examined performed cases, and made presentations at exchange meetings. Furthermore, these outcomes were published as “The world of the elderly with dementia” by Japanese Nursing Association Publishing Company in June 2015.

In the fourth term, to continue these activities from the third term, we aim to further explore the world of the elderly with dementia and establish what we call “care” with hopes that it will lead to “the establishment and spread of one-set care for the elderly with dementia,” by disseminating the care procedures to all of our members, informing them of this book, and continuing the case study.

We are becoming an increasingly aged society, and care for the elderly with dementia in the fields of medicine and welfare are growing important issues of practice. I hope that all of our members, while aspiring to improve nursing care procedures for the elderly with dementia, will spread the information gained from the case studies and books, keep abreast of the committee’s activities, and continue to give them their support.

[International Activities Committee]

• International Activities Committee
  The International Activities Committee strives to embody the principle of Humanity, one of the Fundamental Principles of the International Red Cross, and as the International Activities Committee promotes activities from the perspective of global health under the precept of “Leaving no one behind,” one of the principles underlying the Sustainable Development Goals.
  
• Outline of activities
  
  1) Exchange meetings will be held on themes relating to global health issues
  2) Revision of the teaching materials for global health training in a career development ladder for nurse practitioners
  3) Update of the Society’s English website
  4) Participation in other conferences related to international issues
• Activities
  FY2021:
  
  ① An exchange meeting entitled “Support for Foreign National Victims during Disasters: Examples of Activities in the Kumamoto Earthquake/Heavy Rain Disaster and the Hokkaido Eastern Iburi Earthquake” was held at the 23rd Annual Conference of the Japanese Red Cross Society of Nursing Science
  ② Update of the Society’s English website: Website content updated with viewers from other countries in mind
  ③ Participation in WANS board of directors meeting (teleconference): December 8, 2021 (Wednesday), video conferencing system (Zoom)

The international activities committee plans the exchange session for international activities, which is held after the annual meetings of the Japanese Red Cross Society of Nursing Science in June. In addition, the first meeting of the Red Cross and Red Crescent International Nursing Conference was held in April 2014 in Bangkok, Thailand. The second meeting is planned to take place in Sweden; the Japanese Red Cross society of Nursing Science is expected to support them and to provide the necessary cooperation.

The committee attended the Board of Directors meeting of the World Academy of Nursing Science(WANS), which took place in Kobe, Japan in September 2009, Cancun, Mexico in July 2011, Soul, Korea in October 2013, Hannover, Germany in October 2015, and Bangkok, Thailand in October 2017. Unfortunately, the 6th WANS(2020 Osaka, Japan) congress has been cancelled by COVID-19.

Furthermore, the committee will develop a plan to promote international activities while gathering the opinions of all of our members with respect to which international activities they consider important for us, as the Japanese Red Cross Society of Nursing, to be involved in.

[Public Relations Committee]

This committee fulfills the major roles of maintaining and managing the society website and publishing the annual newsletter. The website is recognized as our most effective tool through which all of our members acquire new information about the society’s activities. Therefore, we are working harder than ever to ensure that the necessary information is updated and can be accessed at any time. In addition, as the committee is planning to update the website to make it more appealing, we would be grateful for any suggestions.

Along with the preceding committee, the PR committee has played an active role in the introduction of the Society’s and the Red Cross’s activities in the newsletter. Going beyond current academic activities, the committee has hopes of publishing content with an eye on the future, based on trends in nursing and medical care. This committee will continue to work with our committee members to help further the development of Red Cross nursing and Society activities.

[Disaster Nursing Activities Committee]

• Purpose of Activities
  The Disaster Nursing Activities Committee, through surveys at times of disaster, conferences and seminars, shares empirical knowledge related to disaster nursing as explicit knowledge with the aim of contributing to its further development.
  
• FY2022 Activity Policy
  
  1) Conduct support activities and provide information when disasters occur.
  2) Increase interest in disaster nursing through education and publicity, and work to prevent or mitigate regional disasters.
  3) Conduct surveys on medium- and long-term support for regions affected by disasters and utilize findings in the accumulation and implementation of knowledge related to disaster nursing.
  4) Investigate the best approaches for the disaster nursing activities of the Japanese Red Cross Society of Nursing Science.
• Activities
  The Disaster Nursing Activities Committee was founded in 2008 to carry out activities related to Red Cross disaster nursing. Relief work at times of disaster is the mission of the Japanese Red Cross Society, which over its long history has conducted many types of disaster nursing activities both inside and outside Japan. Red Cross educational institutions also continue to educate Red Cross nurses as relief staff capable of serving professionally in disaster areas. By rediscovering the knowledge and practices established through the deep experience contained within Red Cross disaster nursing, and sharing this empirical knowledge, we engage in activities to contribute to its continued development.
  
  FY2011 An exchange meeting entitled, “Empirical knowledge of Red Cross relief team nurses gained through their activities following the Great East Japan Earthquake, and future issues” was held
  FY2012 A disaster nursing seminar entitled, “Early response system and the role of nurse managers in hospitals in affected areas” was held
  FY2016 A meeting entitled, “Understanding of health and living conditions and related support activities in areas affected by the Kumamoto Earthquake” was held.

We can only pray that the damage caused by the evermore frequent and large-scale disasters in recent years does not increase. This committee conducts activities with the aim to contribute to the development of disaster nursing strategies by sharing “experienced lessons (what has been learned through the experience)” regarding disaster nursing as “formatted lessons (what has been learned in the form of common established methodology),” through research activities conducted during disasters and academic meetings and disaster seminars. As our main activities, we hold an exchange session at the annual meeting of Japanese Red Cross Society of Nursing Science and disaster nursing seminar and offer medium-to-long-term support to the affected areas struck by the Great East Japan Earthquake; we also conduct research at and provide support to Hakuba village, which was damaged by the Nagano Prefecture Kamishiro Fault Earthquake. Through these efforts, the committee hopes to provide information and exchange opinions regarding the knowledge gained from our experiences thus far to contribute to improving disaster nursing and to link it with disaster prevention and mitigation.

With the help of all of our members, and the participation of many others, we look forward to continuing to integrate our efforts to prepare for disasters that are likely to occur with increasing frequency in the future.

[Red Cross Nursing History Research Committee]

• Purpose and activities of the History Research Committee
  1) To comprehend historical materials in Japan related to the history of nurse education and nursing activities in the Japan Red Cross Society (obtain or investigate and identify where such materials are kept).
  2) To make those historical materials available to committee members and to promote learning, while simultaneously raising committee members’ interest in the history of Red Cross nursing.
  3) To contribute to nursing education and the search for the best approaches to nursing, with foresight.
• Activities
  The Annual Conference of the Japanese Red Cross Society of Nursing Science includes a meeting for discussing the history of Red Cross nursing. Themes such as experiences during and after the Second World War, have been covered in these annual meetings and they have included a talk by a military nurse who spoke about Red Cross nursing as learned from her mother who was also a military nurse
  More than 70 years have passed since the end of the war and there are thus few opportunities to hear directly from people who experienced it. As such, this meeting presents a good opportunity for learning more about past Red Cross nursing activities. In 2021, in connection to the current COVID-19 pandemic, we looked at the activities of Red Cross nurses during the Spanish influenza pandemic that occurred about 100 years ago. During that meeting, we were able to convey the struggles of nurses under difficult circumstances similar to those of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Message from committee members
  Amid the constantly changing social situation, Red Cross nursing continues to add to its history. While staying in touch with the historical facts of Red Cross nursing, we will continue to pursue activities that allow us to explore nursing education and the best approaches to nursing both in times of peace and during emergencies.