{"id":8,"date":"2015-02-20T20:12:00","date_gmt":"2015-02-20T20:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/avada.theme-fusion.com_demos\/law\/?page_id=8"},"modified":"2026-03-27T21:05:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T19:05:24","slug":"home-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/enc-eu.org\/","title":{"rendered":"Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/span><\/div>

The Athens Declaration<\/span><\/h1>\n

The undersigned Regulatory Bodies of Nursing, gathered in Athens for the third International Meeting of Nursing Regulators, have adopted, at the initiative of the European Nursing Council, the following declaration:<\/p>\n

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  • Nursing Regulatory Authorities are profoundly concerned by the serious challenges that the shortage of nurses in many of our countries brings for patients, health services, and colleagues alike. The demand for qualified nurses in more prosperous countries leads to many colleagues migrating there. Even though this migration contributes to plugging the gap in these countries, we should not forget that it also leads to a significant drop in the quality of healthcare in less prosperous nations, thus exacerbating the strain already existing. Adopting measures, including economic ones, with the aim to motivate young people to join the nursing profession, and to encourage already serving nurses to remain professionally active, must remain our top strategy to deal with the shortage of nurses. In that context, it is also obvious that promoting policies towards improving of the wellbeing of nurses, protecting the mental and physical health of nursing professionals, supporting a work-life balance, and recognising the importance of nursing work, is essential for rendering nursing an attractive professional path as well as for ensuring the quality and safety of patient care.<\/li>\n
  • Nursing Regulatory bodies are further concerned by the lack of visibility of nursing work, and are very aware of the importance of traceability in nursing activities across different professional cultures and countries. For this reason, we firmly believe that a standardised language, shared among different nations and nursing communities, is necessary to realise an International Classification of Nursing Diagnosis. This would enhance visibility of Nursing work, and will be fundamental in achieving better quality of care, and better recognition of care outcomes, as outlined by scientific literature.<\/li>\n
  • Nursing Regulatory Bodies are taking into account scientific evolutions regarding Artificial Intelligence (AI); acknowledge that its advancement could bring substantial benefits for the exercise of the nursing profession, and for bettering healthcare in general.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Integration of AI in practice must not alter the goals of patient care. Integration of AI in practice must be enshrined by the Code of Professional Conduct and the professional Nursing values of Compassion, Care, and Commitment. The continuous evolution of advanced digital technologies such as AI must be adopted or integrated into nursing practice within these nursing and ethical care frameworks so that nursing practice remains relevant in the changing landscape (Fronczek, 2019).<\/p>\n

    To mitigate the more harmful effects of AI, and the potential negative consequences the use of this new technology might have for our patients, we contend that:<\/p>\n

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    1. It is essential that nurses and all healthcare professionals in general receive adequate education and training before using AI technology and tools.<\/li>\n
    2. It is essential that, nurses and healthcare professionals, when using conversational AI assistance, are absolutely sure that the confidentiality of personal data is protected.<\/li>\n
    3. It is essential that nurses and healthcare professionals inform the patient before using AI as a tool for an action, clearly explaining what the tool will be used for.<\/li>\n
    4. It is essential that nurses and healthcare professionals who use AI to search for and gather documentation, ensure that the data provided is up-to-date, reliable, and scientifically valid. They must also acknowledge that they have used AI for such a search.<\/li>\n
    5. It is essential that nurses and health professionals in general must, consistently, ensure that AI is a decision-making tool, the use of which must never diminish the special interpersonal relationship between them and their patients.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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      • Nursing Regulatory authorities are welcoming the improvement new communication technologies are bringing to the accessibility of healthcare, especially regarding the struggle to reach areas with a dearth of hospitals, clinics, and professionals available for the health needs of the local population. It is for this reason that we strongly encourage the adoption of more initiatives towards studying, developing, and promoting digital assessments, and interventions including the virtual ward and Telenursing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        European Nursing Council: https:\/\/enc-eu.org\/<\/strong>
        \nFederazione Nazionale Ordini Professioni Infermieristiche (Italy): https:\/\/www.fnopi.it\/en\/<\/strong>
        \nOrdre Nationale des Infermiers (France): https:\/\/www.ordre-infirmiers.fr\/<\/strong>
        \nOrder of Nurses and Midwives (Romania): https:\/\/www.oamr.ro\/<\/strong>
        \nNursing and Midwifery Board (Ireland): https:\/\/www.nmbi.ie\/Home<\/strong>
        \nHrvatska Komora Medicinskih Sestara (Croatia): https:\/\/www.hkms.hr\/<\/strong>
        \nHellenic Regulatory Body of Nurses (Greece): www.enne.gr<\/strong>
        \nRegulatory Body of Nurses (Hungary): www.meszk.hu
        \n<\/strong>Urdh\u00ebri i Infermier\u00ebve t\u00eb Shqip\u00ebris\u00eb (Albania): www.urdhriinfermierit.org<\/strong>
        \nOda e Infermier\u00ebve, Mamive dhe Profesionist\u00ebve t\u00eb tjer\u00eb Sh\u00ebndetor\u00eb t\u00eb Kosov\u00ebs (Kosovo): oik-ks.org<\/strong>
        \nPflegekammer Nordrhein-Westfalen (Germany): https:\/\/www.pflegekammer-nrw.de\/<\/strong>
        \nTruMerit (USA): https:\/\/www.trumerit.org\/<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>