My name is Ruwang Han, and I am a second-year doctoral researcher at Åbo Akademi University (Vaasa). From August 18th to August 20th, I was delighted to participate in the NorDoc PhD Summer School at the University of Helsinki. The NorDoc PhD summer school is a network training event for doctoral researchers in health sciences from various Nordic universities, and this year it brought together over 200 doctoral researchers to Finland. It was an inspiring experience to attend with three other doctoral researchers from my department (See Picture 1). As an early-stage researcher, it was informative for me to learn new things and it was my first time meeting other doctoral researcher fellows from the Nordic area. The summer school theme was Future Expertise in Health Sciences, covering key topics such as Professional Development through Self-Management, Revolution in Research Methodology, Science in Media, Science-Driven Healthcare Policy and Decision Making. The summer school provided me with valuable insights from the lectures and allowed me to expand my network and learn about different research topics within health sciences.
Picture 1. Doctoral researchers from the health sciences at Åbo Akademi University in Vaasa participated in the NorDoc PhD Summer School 2024. From left to right: Ann-Sofie Silvennoinen, Cecilia Linnannen, Lotta Eronen, Ruwang Han.
Before the programme started, there was a ‘‘Get-together’’ trip on the 18th of August. I joined doctoral researchers from other Nordic universities for a boat trip from Helsinki Kauppatori to Suomenlinna, a UNESCO World Heritage site. It was a great time to meet new fellows and explore Suomenlinna together. During the following two days, we had a four-section programme related to the theme of summer school. In the first section, we received lectures on career planning, self-management, and coping with stress and challenges encountered during the PhD journey. It is crucial to be resilient and overcome mental challenges as a junior researcher because unexpected and complex problems may arise. Mental health issues among doctoral researchers have been frequently discussed. We all need to recognise this issue and take care of our well-being.
Later, the revolution in research methodology in health sciences was discussed in the second section. Although the medical methodology was not relevant to my research, such as single-cell techniques, I enjoyed the lectures, especially those about AI as a research tool. The third section was about science in media and emphasised the role and existence of science in mass and social media. I attended the workshop about science communication in social media and one researcher shared her experiences about how she built up her Instagram account as a researcher. She not only presented tools and skills for creating a great Instagram post but also provided guidance on managing and responding to criticism. We also got the chance to learn how to make a good academic poster. In the last section, many experts and researchers have discussed the current healthcare policy and decision-making, for instance, the science behind policymaking and good care guidelines in Finland. From my perspective, listening to these presentations on how healthcare policy works is very interesting, considering that my research is somehow related to it.
Fortunately, I got the opportunity to present my research (See Picture 2) as a poster presentation and share my research project with other junior researchers in health sciences. My doctoral thesis is about the development and evaluation of advanced practice nursing models in Primary Care, and it is a research project cooperated between Åbo Akademi University and one Wellbeing Services County in Finland. Many doctoral researchers were interested in the topic and discussed with me about what they thought about Advanced Practice Nurses (APNs) and their roles in their home countries. Some people had heard about it, while others were not aware of these roles or had misconceptions about the term ’Advanced Practice Nurse’. So, what are the APN roles? According to the International Council of Nurses (ICN, 2020), APN roles are classified into Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNSs) and Nurse Practitioner (NPs). However, nurse prescribers are also considered as one of the APN groups in Finland. Another question is, how have advanced practice nursing developed in Finland? We have educated APNs for almost twenty years, but the APN roles are still invisible in the healthcare system. There are still several challenges before we can fully utilise their skills and competencies, including issues related to legislation and job opportunities. Advanced practice nursing is considered a solution to address the shortage of physicians and the aging population in society. Through international experiences, advanced practice nurses have made significant contributions to providing quality and holistic care and increasing access to care.
Picture 2. The author Ruwang Han presented his research at the NorDoc PhD summer school.
In short, I had an unforgettable and valuable experience participating in the NorDoc PhD summer school. I got the chance to meet others in health sciences and learned many new things and saw different research within the field. Next year, the summer school will be held by the University of Oslo, and I strongly recommend doctoral researchers to participate in this event.
Author:
Ruwang Han RN, MHSc, Doctoral researcher
Department of Health Sciences
Faculty of Education and Welfare Studies
Åbo Akademi University in Vaasa
Reference(s):
International Council of Nurses (2020), International Council of Nurses (ICN) Guidelines of advanced practice. Geneva, Switzerland. Available at https://www.icn.ch/sites/default/files/2023-04/ICN_APN%20Report_EN.pdf (Accessed 24 September 2024).