Cristina G. Vivar
PHOTO: Manuel Castells

'Towards a new paradigm of the healthcare system: the nurse, spectator or protagonist?" was the degree scroll of the lecture delivered by the professor of the department of Community Nursing and Maternal and Child Nursing of the University of Navarra, Cristina G. Vivar, at the opening ceremony of the III National congress of teaching in Nursing, held in Talavera.

Vivar pointed out that two major challenges facing healthcare professionals in Spain today are chronicity and the aging of the population. Regarding the former, she indicated that "the prevalence of people suffering from chronic diseases is increasing, with the vast majority of chronic patientsbeing affected by one or more pathologies". These pathologies, according to the expert, "have a multiple impact: they represent a major limitation in the quality of life, productivity and functional status of the people who suffer from them; a heavy burden in terms of morbidity and mortality; and a driver of the increase in healthcare and social costs, which compromises the medium-term sustainability deadline of the protection system".

Added to this status is the aging of the country's population, "an unprecedented demographic phenomenon, characterized by a progressive and irreversible development which, according to Vivar, is a milestone in our society". "This reality," he added, "is inexorably linked to a higher incidence of diseases in the last stage of life and greater dependence; situations that require new care strategies for the coming years, framed in the prevention of chronic diseases and dependence, and the promotion of active aging.

Responding to the challenges of the healthcare system
In the face of these challenges, the speaker proposes a transformation of the current conceptual frameworks that allows for healing and care, in their broadest meanings, and that is perfectly articulated in the speech of the social and health policies of our time.

In this framework, the nursing professional must be and act as a protagonist to respond to the challenges facing the healthcare system and society as a whole. "It is important to make our professional skill more visible - both on the attendance, teaching, research and the management- in order to continue to grow socially and professionally. In this way, we will uniquely contribute to the sustainability of our healthcare system, and most especially to excellence in the care of patients and families, the true protagonists of the national healthcare system," he concluded.

The III National congress of teaching in Nursing was organized by the Spanish Nursing Union, SATSE, and the Foundation for the development of Nursing.