"Family Nursing should be put on internship in today's healthcare systems. Strong evidence demonstrates the benefit of educational and emotional support for patients and their families," said Erla Kolbrun, nurse and professor at the University of Iceland. The expert participated in the course Family Nursing and Families Living with Chronic Illness, organized by the School of Nursing of the University of Navarra.

She stressed the importance of educating future professionals to be a benefit to society, and of the presence of Family Nurse Practitioners in universities. However, "they must be willing to apply this nursing subject in a systematic way in their clinical internship , through the use of well-established clinical models," she said.

On the other hand, about her stay in Navarra, Dr. Kolbrun assured that the value of the family is very present: "When I walk through the streets of Pamplona, I see many families enjoying being together", and that the relatives are very involved with their loved ones who are in the hospital.

Innovating Nursing

Family Nursing is a recently createdspecialization program , whose goal consists of attend and educating families to reach a higher level of organization and well-being when one of the members suffers from a chronic illness.

The Government of Navarra has launched a project with the aim of designing, implementing and evaluating a training intervention program based on Family Nursing, and aimed at training nursing professionals to work with families caring for a dependent person.

Likewise, the University of Navarra includes this discipline in the Study program of the Degree in Nursing, with the subjects 'The family as an area of care', 'Nursing care for the elderly' and 'Priority health problems'.