Postal address: Avdelningen för omvårdnad, Karlstads universitet, SE-651 88 Karlstad, Sweden
Visiting address: Universitetsgatan 1
Web page: http://www.kau.se/utbildning/kurser/amne/AM1048
Contact person: Professor Elsy Athlin, phone: + 46 (0)54 700 16 59
South Asia related activities
In 2008, the Dept. of Nursing Science established a Linnaeus Palme exchange programme with the Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences (Deemed University), DMIMSDU, in Wardha, 70 km away from Nagpur in India. University Lecturer Brian Unis coordinates the project at Karlstad University.
The contact person on the Indian side is Prof. Ramchandra Goyal, Dept. of Community Medicine, DMIMSDU. The collaboration project started in 2008, by sending two teachers in each direction. Elsy Athlin and Agneta Danielsson went to Wardha. Teachers from DMIMSDU came to Karlstad first time in 2009, and from the Fall 2009 the exchange has also included students exchange.
DMIMSDU was founded by Mr. Dattaji Meghe, Member of Parliament representing the people of Maharashtra in Lok Sabha for three consecutive terms and presently a member of Rajya Sabha. He is still the Chancellor of the university, that from being a small educational institute 25 years ago, now has grown up into a educational empire covering almost all faculties of education spread all over Maharashtra state (with 27 institutions right from pre-primary to postgraduate levels covering various faculties like Medical Sciences, Pharmacy, Engineering, Social Science, Commerce, Science, Physical Education and Performing arts).
The project has received continued funding for the period 2012-13 with SEK 371 144.
More information about the South Asia related Linnaeus Palme projects for 2012-13.
In December 2009, Elsy Athlin received a planning grant from the Swedish Research Links programme (funded by Sida and the Swedish Research Council) for a India related project titled ”Collaboration between academy and clinical practice to promote evidence-based practice in Indian and Swedish health-care contexts”. The project was supposed to be carried out in collaboration with Professor Goyal at DMIMSDU. More information on the Swedish Research Links grants 2009.
Partner driven Swedish-Asian collaboration project on evidence-based practice in India and Sweden
In July 2010, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), through its program for Partner Driven Cooperation (Aktörssamverkan), announced a call for applications for grants to collaborative projects related to access to and use of research for the period 2010 – 2012. This program is not support to research but rather assisting partners in assessing and using research in policy formulation and innovation. Sida’s initiative for Partner Driven Cooperation is aiming to support sustainable cooperation relationships, and concerns only a few selected countries, namely China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, South Africa, Botswana and Namibia. More information.
In December 2010, decisions were made. A total number of 32 projects were selected, out of which nine refers to Indo-Swedish collaboration projects. Information about all India related projects given grants.
Professor Elsy Athlin was the main applicant for one of these India related grants. She and her colleagues behind the application were given SEK 4.3 m for three years (2010-12) for a project entitled ”Collaboration between academy and clinical practice to promote evidence-based practice in India and Swedish health care”.
The project is carried out in collaboration between the Department of Nursing, Karlstad University; Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences (DMIMS) in Wardha; and SRRM College of Nursing, Sawangi (Meghe), also in Wardha. It aims at implementation and evaluation of a model for promotion of evidence-based practice (EBP) in Indian and Swedish health-care contexts by means of close collaboration between the nursing academy and the clinical fields where nursing students are trained during their clinical-based education. The model which is used is named Collaborative Model for ’Best Practice’ (CMBP).
The project is run by a research group, which has the overall responsibility for the quality of the project. One project group in India and one in Sweden are responsible for the practical implementation of the CMBP (one of the researchers, one- two nurse administrators, four head nurses, two clinical nurse teachers/country). One Facilitator group/ward has been chosen made up of two nurses and one clinical nurse teacher. As the project is focusing on problems in nursing practice, nurses working in the wards and nursing students who are studying there are also involved in different steps of the project. More information about the project in a February 2012 report by Elsy Athlin.
An International conference on ”Evidence Based Practice in Nursing” was held at Wardha in Maharashtra state, India, 6–7 Februay 2014. It was jointly organised by Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences (Deemed University) – DMIMS; Smt. Radhikabai Meghe Memorial College of Nursing, Sawangi (Meghe); and the Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health, Science, and Technology, Karlstad University, Sweden. The purpose of this conference, funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), was to share research findings and experiences of evidence based practice in nursing, and heed to nurse researchers, nurse teachers, clinical nurses, and nursing leaders and administrators all around the globe. It marked the end of a three year long Partner driven Swedish-Asian collaboration project on evidence-based practice in India and Sweden.
Professor Elsy Athlin held one of the keynote presentations, entitled ”Collaboration between academy and clinical practice to promote EBP in Indian and Swedish health care contexts- similarities and differences”. Read the Conference Announcement.