Dear Colleagues,

The concept of Critical Care Nursing emerged during the Crimean War in 1850s, when Florence Nightingale demanded that most seriously ill patient were placed in beds near to nursing station so that they could be constantly observed closely focusing on separate geographical area and good quality services to critically ill patient. Afterwards, more ICUs were developed; different Nursing Association was formed to enhance Critical Care Nursing to reach current level. Critical Care Nursing is an emerging discipline in the field of Nursing. Providing quality care in critically ill patient encompasses nurses from various hospitals as well as challenges.

In Nepal, there used to be no any formal education or system for being a Critical Care Nurse. Even freshly passed staff nurses are directly enrolled into ICU and hence the lack of properly trained human resources is one of the main challenges in Critical Care Nursing in Nepal. With the development of Critical Care Medicine in Nepal, Critical Care Nursing field was somehow lacking in upgrading their services and improving their quality of care.

Thus, Critical Care Nurses Association of Nepal was established in November, 2016 with the aim of developing Critical Care Nursing services in Nepal. CCNAN is working towards improving services and care provided by Critical Care Nurses to a critically ill patient through upgrading their knowledge and skills by conducting various trainings, workshops, conventions; formulating national policies, developing guidelines in collaboration with Nepalese Society of Critical Care Medicine. CCNAN is conducting various short courses and workshop in collaboration with Nepal Critical Care Development Foundation and also have been involved in creating awareness among general public about sepsis and importance of hand hygiene. CCANAN is also getting support from other International Societies as well. Hence I would like to thank all the members, national societies and international societies for helping us in achieving our aim.

Ms Bimala Shrestha

President, CCNAN