ESMS Conference with Vice-Minister of Health

06.08.2018
In May 2018, the Medicover Foundation organized the conference “ELECTRONIC SYSTEM FOR IN-SCHOOL HEALTH CARE – disease prevention programme for 21st century for children, youth and families”. During the event in Warsaw, Vice-Minister of Health, Józefa Szczurek-Żelazko presented the key points of the draft of the “Act on Health Care for Primary and Secondary Education Students”. The conference created a communication and exchange platform for representatives of central and local governments and the communities of nurses, academics and medical professionals.

The 1st Conference  “Electronic System For In-School Health Care – disease prevention programme for 21st century for children, youth and families” was organised on 11 May 2018 in Warsaw. The participants of the event were delegates from local governments, Departments of Health of regional authorities, and school nurses as well as health care professionals. The topics discussed during the conference presented health care from both practical and the professional perspectives. The aim of the event was to highlight best practices implemented by Polish local governments. A further goal was to facilitate the exchange of experience between the departments responsible for health care services and to develop the understanding of the challenges faced by school nurses. The conference was a platform for different stakeholders in health care, enabling them to become involved in a constructive dialogue and reality check. The conference’s debates also delineated the areas within student health care that still require attention. The delegates indicated some practical, tried and tested solutions as well as IT systems which can support school nurses in their work. The Central Council of Nurses and Midwives was the patron of the event. 

The lead theme and the background for the conference was the draft of the new Act on Student Health Care in Primary and Secondary Schools, currently in development under supervision of Vice Minister of Health, Józefa Szczurek-Żelazko. The new legislation will introduce a range of changes, including more extensive authority and more professional tasks for school nurses. The presentation of Vice-Minister was devoted to in-school health care services, the associated challenges, the new job responsibilities of school nurses / hygiene experts, and dental care services for students in primary and secondary education.  The new act is to enter into force starting from the academic year 2018/2019.

A Modern Nurse: Digitization of Schools and the ESMS System

The Electronic In-School Health Care System as a tool for local governments, school nurses, and school  headmasters was presented by Kamila Szarejko, Project Manager from the Medicover Foundation. The presentation included examples of health care project and programme evaluation. “Our innovative IT system, the ESMS, is the result of six years of our implementation of PoZdro! Programme. In order to identify the children who require more attention because they are obese or overweight, we have used an electronic school health care system - i.e. a system facilitating health checks and screenings in schools. It seems now that the system will be the inherited outcome of our PoZdro! programme which is nearing its end. The system can offer support in building a healthier society, and can be a useful tool for school nurses who plan, implement and evaluate health care programmes. We are aware of the mean age of school nurses. That is why we have decided not only to offer our training to support schools, but also our assistance for school nurses as they launch the ESMS system in their schools. This is important as in-school health care services in Poland have not yet been digitized. Our assistance will facilitate a better and smoother introduction to the application. We are soon starting with a pilot project in Gdynia” – said Kamila Szarejko. 

Best Practice in Polish Cities

The representatives of the cities which have cooperated with the Foundation in the implementation of PoZdro!, the Nationwide Programme for Prevention of Diabetes and Lifestyle Diseases presented well-designed health care strategies applied in their cities: Gdynia, Lublin and Wrocław. Gdynia was represented by Bartosz Bartoszewicz, Deputy Mayor of Gdynia for Health and Education and Anna Melki - Director of the Gdynia Health Centre. In their presentation the representatives of Gdynia’s authorities also referred to the trilateral agreement soon to be signed by the Gdynia Health Centre, the Regional Chamber of Nurses and Midwives and the Medicover Foundation. The pilot project following the agreement will consist in implementing the IT solution developed by the Medicover Foundation (the Electronic In-School Health Care System) as a support tool for school nurses in Gdynia.

The local programmes in Wrocław were presented by Joanna Nyczak, Director of the Health Care and Social Affairs Department of Wrocław City Council. According to the data from the Medicover Foundation’s screenings in the years 2015–2018, Wrocław can boast the lowest proportion of obese and overweight students in comparison with Gdynia, Lublin and Warsaw. “In 2016 we were very happy to accept the invitation to participate in PoZdro! Programme, a significant addition to the health care initiatives we had been implementing in Wrocław”, said Joanna Nyczak.

The mechanisms of disease prevention and promotion of health in Lublin were then presented by  Barbara Danieluk – Deputy Director of the Department of Health and Social Affairs of the City Council of Lublin. As indicated by the screenings performed by the Medicover Foundation as part of its Nationwide Programme for Prevention of Diabetes and Lifetyle Diseases (the PoZdro! Programme), the number of children with faulty posture in Lublin dropped by nearly 20 per cent (from 82.3 per cent in 2014/2015 to 60.7 per cent in 2016/2017) compared to the control groups not covered by the disease prevention programme.

The final part of the conference was a debate with the invited experts, preceded by an introduction from the Medicover Foundation’s President, Marcin Radziwłł.

The ESMS Conference speakers were:

  • Józefa Szczurek-Żelazko, Undersecretary of State, the Ministry of Health
  • Paweł Goryński PhD, Division of Monitoring and Analysis of Population Health, the National Institute of Public Heath, the National Institute of Hygiene
  • Professor Małgorzata Myśliwiec, MD, Chair and Clinic of Paediatrics, Diabetology, Endocrinology of the Medical University of Gdansk
  • Małgorzata Sokulska, the Regional Council of Nurses and Midwives
  • Bartosz Bartoszewicz, Deputy Mayor of Gdynia for Health and Education
  • Anna Melki, Director of the Gdynia Health Centre
  • Joanna Nyczak, Director of the Health Care and Social Affairs Department of Wrocław City Council
  • Tomasz Babicz, Librus Synergia, e-Dziennik
  • Kamila Szarejko, Project Manager, the Medicover Foundation
  • Barbara Danieluk, Deputy Director of the Health Care and Social Affairs Department of Lublin City Council
  • dr . Michał Brzeziński, MD, the Polish Society for Health Programmes
  • Anna Czarnecka, President of the Regional Council of Nurses and Midwives in Gdańsk;
  • Marek Jankowski, Health Promotion Centre in Gdańsk

The conference was organised on the 38th Floor of Warsaw SPIRE office building offering an impressive panorama view of Warsaw. 

 

You can see the full coverage of the event on the following websites: http://po-zdro.pl/ and http://po-zdro.pl/konferencja2018/ 

Date added 06.08.2018
Data ostatniej aktualizacji 15.01.2019