At the end of this course, Nursing professors of the Public University of Navarra (UPNA) Raquel Sáenz Mendía and Rosanna de la Rosa Eduardo participated in a teaching stay in Portugal, in the Erasmus+ Europe programme, where they presented the Person Focused Attention (ACP) model. In particular, the teachers spent their stay at the Escuela Superior de Enfermagem de Lisboa, where they were accompanied by the Portuguese teacher Eulalia Novais.

The ACP model has been applied for many years in the Nordic countries, the UK or Australia as an element for improving social and health care, particularly in the elderly. Instead of focusing on illness or disability, it allows the person to continue doing the tasks and activities they enjoy, regardless of their circumstances, in an approach that also includes their environment and family.

It is a comprehensive approach, “which ranges from the promotion and prevention to the care of people in the final stages of their life, seeking to promote the well-being of individuals, increase their capacities and their decision-making autonomy from a holistic and personalized perspective, in terms of respect for values- their values ​​prevail, and in which everyone is a participant and protagonist of their treatment”, say the UPNA teachers.

In this context, “the job of nursing is to accompany people in decision making, ensuring that this is done consciously, adequately and independently”, say the teachers.

Among the duties of the nursing professional is to carry out a comprehensive assessment of the person to identify their needs, capacities, limitations, resources, and possibilities for independent living, always taking into account their functional autonomy and decision-making capacity. All this makes it possible to prioritize interventions and evaluate their results appropriately. “Caring involves accepting people’s autonomy in decision-making. Verbal and non-verbal communication, observations and life history, together with respect for independence, will help us ensure that older people develop, in the best way, life projects”, emphasized the teachers .

As teachers have pointed out, nowadays, professional nursing practice must be based on evidence-based health care. “Nurses are constantly challenged to identify new and better ways to provide optimal care for everyone. Because the nursing care process involves a deliberate approach to problem solving or prevention, its successful application will depend on the patient’s knowledge, skills, and attitudes. professionals, which must be integrated into ethical and theoretical frameworks of reference for care practice”, they conclude.