The 23rd international EAFONS conference will be held on January 10 and 11, 2020, in Chiang Mai, Thailand at the Lotus Pang Suan Kaew Hotel. The theme of the two-day conference is “Advancing Nursing Scholars in the Era of Global Transformation and Disruptive Innovation” and, as such, will focus on the opportunities and challenges presented by the intensifying pace of global transformation and disruptive innovation on nursing education, research, and practice.

It will serve as an opportunity for health professionals to gather and share experiences, lessons learned, successes, and obstacles to creating sustainable healthcare practices that are adaptive to change.

EAFONS 2020 Objectives

▪    To support health professionals in developing the knowledge, networks, and motivation to build adaptive nursing education, research, and practice in the face of global transformation and disruptive innovation
▪    To discuss the opportunities and challenges of current trends in these areas
▪    To foster and sustain collaborations and partnerships between and among academic and professional institutes both within the region and globally
▪    To provide a forum for healthcare professionals to network so as to contribute to the advancement of collaboration towards best practice globally

The term “disruptive innovation” was coined by Dr. Clayton Christensen, who discussed the theory in the context of industry. When more established and generally more expensive models are overtaken by simpler solutions in order to fill a gap in services or product needs, the disruption presents expansion and contraction; new growth in one area and consequent decline in another.

How do we translate this concept in the field of healthcare and in nursing, specifically? The development of the role of advanced practice nurses such as clinical nurse specialists (CNSs) and nurse practitioners, for example, has been labelled a disruptive innovation in healthcare. How can healthcare scholars and practitioners become “positive disruptors,” as Halstead discusses, leveraging the potential inherent to transformation and enhancing the efficacy of interprofessional healthcare provision as a whole?

References

Christensen CM, Raynor ME, McDonald R. What is disruptive innovation? Harv Bus Rev. December 2015. Article Links Accessed January 21, 2019.

Halstead, Judith A. Seeking Disruptive Leaders in Nursing Education! Nurs Edu Perspect. 2013 Jan-Feb;34(1):4.