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Focus on the Care Workforce

In June 2023, the United Nations proclaimed, through Resolution A/RES/77/317 , that the International Day of Care and Support will take place annually on October 29. Care workers provide direct personal care services in the home, in health care and residential settings, assisting with routine tasks of daily life and performing a variety of other tasks of a simple and routine nature. This term comprises the two ILO ISCO occupational groups: 

• Heath care assistant (ISCO-08 code: 5321) - Institution-based personal care workers who provide direct personal care and assistance with activities of daily living to patients and residents in a variety of health care settings such as hospitals, clinics and residential nursing care facilities. They generally work in implementation of established care plans and practices, and under the direct supervision of medical, nursing or other health professionals or associate professionals.
• Home-based personal care workers (ISCO-08 code: 5322) who provide routine personal care and assistance with activities of daily living to persons who are in need of such care due to effects of ageing, illness, injury, or other physical or mental conditions, in private homes and other independent residential settings.

We shortly will announce the official WHO commemoration of the International Day of Care and Support. Stay tuned here, or join our mailing list . 

Global Partners Meeting on Nursing and Midwifery 2024

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WHO holds the Tenth Global Forum for Government Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officers

The International Council of Nurses endorses World Health Organization training programme on improving mental health

9th Triad Meeting results in commitment to action to advance nursing and midwifery at country level

Director-General’s Global Health Leaders Award for Annette Kennedy, President of the International Council of Nurses

Meet the 100+ outstanding Nurses and Midwives

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Health Worker Migration

Noting the concerns the Director General reported to the 74th World Health Assembly on the rapid acceleration in international recruitment from countries with workforce shortages, we have now added 8 countries to the WHO Health Workforce Support and Safeguards List, for a total of 55 countries that need additional protection against active international recruitment.

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The International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife: taking stock of outcomes and commitments

The 72nd World Health Assembly designated 2020 The International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife. This provided a special opportunity to celebrate the...

Building better together: roadmap to guide implementation of the Global Strategic Directions for Nursing...

Nurses and midwives comprise half of the professional health workforce globally, interact with people from birth to death across all types of settings...

Registered nurse education in North Macedonia: a roadmap for change

Around the globe, the nursing profession plays a key role in supporting improved population health outcomes. However, it is recognized in many countries...

Development of primary health care nursing in Ukraine

Nurses play a key role in the provision of primary health care (‎PHC)‎ and the coordination and organization of medical care overall. Nurses are...

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Statement of the 9th Triad Meeting on Nursing and Midwifery

The 9th Triad meeting of WHO, the International Council of Nurses and the International Confederation of Midwives, was held from 9-11 May 2022 . The meeting...

2020 Triad Statement

Over 600 government chief nursing and midwifery officers, leaders and representatives of national nursing associations and midwifery associations, together...

Brain drain to brain gain: migration of nursing and midwifery workforce in the state of Kerala, India

India has experienced tremendous growth in its capacity to produce health workers. However, the country still encounters challenges in terms of availability...

Investing in the Power of Nurse Leadership: What Will It Take?

Meeting Sustainable Development Goal 3 by 2030—which includes achieving universal health coverage (UHC) and access to quality essential health services...

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Human Resources for Health Orientation to Competency-Based Education

Human Resources for Health Orientation to Nurses and Midwives

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2021: Year of Health and Care Workers

2020 is the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife

2020: Year of the Nurse and the Midwife

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World health assembly resolutions.

• WHA75.17 – Human resources for health (Working for Health (2022-2030) Action Plan, Global health and care worker compact) (2022)
• WHA A75/15 - Global strategy on human resources for health: workforce 2030 - Report by the Director-General
• WHA74.14 - Protecting, safeguarding and investing in the health and care workforce (2021)
• WHA74.15  -  Strengthening nursing and midwifery: investments in education, jobs, leadership and service delivery (2021)
• WHA73.9 - Report of the WHO Expert Advisory Group on the Relevance and Effectiveness of the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel (2020)
• WHA73.30 - Human resources for health (2020)
• WHA72.3 - Community health workers delivering primary health care: opportunities and challenges) (2019
• WHA72.19 - 2020: International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife) (2019
• EB140.3 - Human resources for health and implementation of the outcomes of the United Nations’ High-Level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth (2017)
• WHA70.6 - Human resources for health and implementation of the outcomes of the United Nations’ High-Level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth  (2017)
• WHA 69.19 - Global strategy on human resources for health: workforce 2030  (2016)
• WHA 63.16 - WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel (2010)

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Kolb's Learning Cycle

Introduction.

David Kolb's approach to reflection takes a somewhat different approach in some ways, as it sites reflection as part of a wider set of processes in which the learner (in this case, the educator reflecting on their practice as part of their continuing professional development) seeks to understand their working processes as they move through different stages of engagement with an event, occurrence, or training session and take on relevant aspects of the new material.

Kolb's cycle derives its insight from experiential thought as regards learning processes, and to some extent it is an offspring of work done by theorists such as Lewin, Piaget, and Freire. The learning cycle proposed by Kolb is experiential in that the focus is upon the value of experience to learning. What is also distinctive about this model is that reflection forms part of a wider set of processes, rather than the model being purely concerned with reflection. To this extent, then, the experiential learning cycle as outlined by Kolb could be used in association with another, and reflection-specific, model of reflection.

The Four Steps of Kolb's Learning Cycle

This diagram indicates the main elements of Kolb's experiential learning cycle:

1. Concrete experience

For Kolb, any process of learning, including learning as a consequence of embarking on an instance of reflection, begins with a concrete - real - experience. Our stimulus to learn in this model derives from having experienced something, and then on the taking into consideration of the meaning and impact of that experience.

Vicarious or second-hand experience (such as reading about how to become a teacher, for example, or watching a demonstration video) is not enough to fully appreciate the situation, event, or skill being studied. Only actual live experience gives the learner the complete picture.

2. Reflective observation

The second stage, reflective observation, involves taking a step back from the experience so that it can be properly considered. Processes related to reviewing what has been done, the effectiveness of the approaches being taken, and the possibility of alterations or variations to the concrete experience already undertaken can be considered.

Kolb appreciates that for some, this is a more natural process than it might be for others. Some people are organic in their reflective abilities, whereas others have to be more formal and structured in their approach to looking back on their experiences and drawing insight for the future from them.

3. Abstract conceptualisation

For Kolb, conceptualisation means to draw inferences from our experiences and what they mean to us. We can take ideas generated as a consequence of reflecting on our experiences, and then draw conclusions from them. In the abstract conceptualisation phase of the cycle, we are prompted to make sense of our experiences, and better appreciate the relationships between them and our wider world.

This can mean further reflective thinking guided towards linking our practice with wider theoretical concepts (such as connecting live teaching events to a range of learning theories which may explain them in various ways). Insight may also be taken from colleagues, peers, from one's own previous history, and from parallel experiences. All of this can support the making of fresh meaning from the concrete experience which we have engaged with through the cycle.

4. Active experimentation

The active experimentation phase of Kolb's cycle is where the hypotheses generated in the previous element are put to the test. It may be that multiple possible alternative approaches have been provoked by the process of working through the cycle, in which case it may be appropriate to test them all in live situations. From such experimentation, fresh concrete experiences will be encountered. Learning must be enacted, not just considered in the abstract; this fresh concrete experience is vital for learning to become embedded.

It is not enough, however, merely to test alternatives or to be assured that one's previous way of working was the most appropriate to the circumstances. For a full appreciation, the cycle must be continued, as we continually re-assess the usefulness and the meaning of our experiences, and as we seek make further improvements.

Kolb's ideas have been influential, not least in the development of other approaches which have taken inspiration from Kolb. The learning cycle may be used also in partnership with other schemas of Kolb's, most notably the definitions of four styles of learning which he developed alongside the cycle. For Kolb, there are four kinds of learners:

• Divergent thinkers: Divergent thinkers are able to assimilate ideas from a spectrum of sources and theoretical approaches. Divergent thinkers are sensitive, imaginative, good at brainstorming and coming up with multiple alternatives to addressing a problem or situation, as well as being good in group-working situations, and in tackling research exercises
• Assimilators: Assimilators prefer logical, short, factual approaches, and work well with clarity and with making sense of theory and abstract concepts. Learners and reflectors who tend to being assimilators like to take time to think through the relative merits of different positions, and can synthesise material efficiently.
• Convergent thinkers: Convergers are adept at problem-solving, and in technical operations, particularly those with real-world applications. There can be a focus on technical or technological subjects, and on experimentation as a way of exploring the world.
• Accommodating thinkers: Accommodators respond well to active experimentation, to inspiration and to intuition rather than a logical and ordered approach. This kind of learner likes working in group environments and using the knowledge of others to support their own decision-making.

Disadvantages of Kolb's Learning Cycle

Disadvantages of Kolb's ideas include the observation that his categories and processes are a personal design and as such are asserted rather than 'proved' in any meaningful way. The experiential cycle proposed may not be a good fit for all reflective situations, and may also require articulation with another reflection-centric approach for it to be meaningful. In addition, the separation between stages in the cycle as outlined by Kolb may be artificial, and not mirror actual experiences where multiple aspects of the learning cycle may be encountered simultaneously.

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