Hong Kong and Seoul

HONG KONG, SAR, China—I’m posting this from the Cathay Pacific First Class Pier Lounge at the Hong Kong International Airport. The Cathay Pacific flight from Manchester to Hong Kong (CX 358) was restored toward the end of last year, and this was the first time I had taken it with the intention of staying in Hong Kong. My previous use of the route was for an onward flight to China. The flight arrived at 6:30 a.m., and, to fight off jet-lag and avoid falling asleep, that made for a very long first day in Hong Kong. I tried going for a walk, which, in 75 percent humidity, lasted five minutes. Eventually, I surrendered at 6:30 p.m. and slept until 6 a.m. the next—my longest sleep in Hong Kong and my longest sleep for years.

I was back in Hong Kong for a second set of meetings with the University Grants Committee Research Grants Council. Most of the work of the committee is done in the four months before we arrive, and these are the meetings where final decisions are made. We also make an academic visit to one of Hong Kong’s higher-education institutes, and this year we visited, in a purely advisory capacity, the City University of Hong Kong. Otherwise, I caught up with old friends and colleagues.

Thomas Wong, PhD, RN, former vice president of Hong Kong Polytechnic University and an entrepreneur with his own consultancy business (GINGER Knowledge Transfer and Consultancy Ltd.) and health provider spin-off (Seamless Care), is the best value for money in Hong Kong and my oldest friend there. Little happens in nursing in Hong Kong and mainland China that Wong either does not know about or has not been instrumental in developing.

I also met Eric Lu Shek Chan, MSc, RN, GAPFON member and former deputy chief nurse at the Hong Kong Health Authority, now dean at Caritas Institute of Higher Education. Chan had planned to meet me in Seoul, South Korea, at the 2015 conference of the International Council of Nurses (ICN), but the Hong Kong government prohibited any health-related personnel from travelling to South Korea due to the MERS (Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome) crisis. The risks of becoming infected with MERS must rate similarly to the chances of winning the United Kingdom National Lottery. Made of stern stuff and with the proverbial British stiff upper lip, I decided to take my chances and head to Seoul.

ICN International Conference

This was my second visit to Seoul, my first several years ago in prohibitively cold, subzero temperatures. This visit was warmer but at a much more civilised temperature than Hong Kong. Conditions for running were ideal, and I recorded Seoul, Gangnam District, on my Garmin webpage.

I have attended ICN conferences before—in Taiwan and Japan—and this one bore the same overriding feature: It was huge. There were thousands of people there, the venue was enormous, and it was by luck much more than management that I ran into colleagues from the United Kingdom, United States, Italy, China, and Australia. I could see from Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn that many other people I knew were also there, but, despite trying, we never met. I was especially pleased to meet for coffee with GAPFON colleagues Hester C. Klopper, PhD, MBA, RN, RM, FANSA; Cathy Catrambone, PhD, RN, FAAN; Pat Thompson, EdD, RN, FAAN; and Cynthia Vlasich, MBA, BSN, RN. I also had lunch with Sally Wai-Chi Chan, PhD, RN, FAAN, featured in many entries passim from Singapore and China.

Pam Mitchell, PhD, RN, FAAN, University of
Washington; Sue Turale, DEd, RN, FACN, Ewha Women's University, South Korea; and Yours Truly struggling with that last course.

Sadly, my impression of Korean food, honed during my first subzero temperature visit, did not improve as a result of this visit. I simply cannot get the theme, appreciate the tastes, marvel at the presentation—and I’m British! However, it was not for want of trying, and I did enjoy one excellent dinner—mainly the beer and the company—hosted by my publisher, Wiley, through its Asia-Pacific office.

Leaving the best till last

Amidst all this fun and frivolity, something wonderful happened last week, and that was publication of the 

Thomson Reuters impact factors for 2014. My journal, Journal of Advanced Nursing, has increased its impact factor (1.741), its citations (12,024), and its ranking (10th place). Therefore, we can once again claim to be a top-10 journal. I would like to thank our authors, readers (especially those who cite us), our incredible team of editors, and the staff at Wiley.

The best news I've had in years!

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International. Comments are moderated. Those that promote products or services will not be posted.

First time in Valencia

HULL, United Kingdom—Most of the time, travel goes well. Sometimes, it goes spectacularly wrong, and Monday, 8 June, was looking as if it would fall into the “spectacularly wrong” category.

I arrived at London Heathrow’s Terminal 5 early in the morning after an overnight stay in one of the airport hotels only to be told that I had no seat booked on the flight—or any flight. Apparently, all the air miles and frequent-flyer status in the world will not get you on a flight it you have no ticket. The travel agent used by my hosts in Spain had issued several itineraries but had not actually booked and paid for a ticket. I found this out after several phone calls to Spain that, in order to sort things out, required the travel agent to open the office early. Had I been in Valencia, I would gladly have turfed the agent out of bed myself.

Like most Spanish cities, Valencia is magnificent.

Amedved/iStock/Thinkstock

Eventually, I caught a later flight for the same connection from Madrid to Valencia, meaning I had to do what I have done many times in the past: sprint through the terminal in Madrid to my connection. I made it. After recounting this to a colleague that evening on Skype, she described me as “the Daniel Craig of nursing.” With my accent, I had always been satisfied with being the Sean Connery of nursing, but I probably needed upgrading to a newer model.

Return to Spain

The international component of my nursing career began in Spain 25 years ago when I took part in a staff exchange programme between the University of Edinburgh and the University of Navarra in Pamplona. Thus began a love affair with Spain and the first of many professional and family visits to Pamplona. My oldest daughter, who studied nursing at the University of Hull and did an elective in critical care in Pamplona, has since worked exclusively in critical care and is well on the way to being a critical care advanced nurse practitioner.

This trip, however, was my first visit to Spain in nine years and my first ever to Valencia, located on the Mediterranean. Hosted by Universidad Europea Valencia, I was there to attend a public event at which a former PhD student of mine was making her case for promotion to associate professor. The former student—Silvia Corchón Arreche, PhD, MSc, RN—was one of the best I’ve supervised, and she sailed through the event. I was one of a panel of three external assessors. Colleagues and family members of the candidate were present, as was the rector (equivalent to president or vice-chancellor in the United States and United Kingdom, respectively). Before you ask if I can speak Spanish, the answer is no, but it is easy to read scientific Spanish, and I could follow the PowerPoint slides. When it came to questions, I was allowed to ask and be replied to in English.

I was accommodated in the historic quarter of the city, which houses many churches, markets, and a cathedral. Like most Spanish cities, it is magnificent. The temperature dropped from 49 C (120.2 F) to a cool 34 C (93.2 F) while I was there. Running was possible in the very early morning. A superb feature of the city, and surrounding the historic quarter, is the bed of a long-ago diverted river, complete with bridges, and it is ideal for running.

The return journey was uneventful, and I leave for Hong Kong and South Korea in three days. Dire warnings are being issued by the Hong Kong government about travel to South Korea due to the MERS (Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome) crisis, so I am hoping it does not lead to any restrictions.

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International. Comments are moderated. Those that promote products or services will not be posted.

Farewell to Bahrain

MANAMA, Kingdom of Bahrain—My four years as an external examiner at the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland-Medical University of Bahrain (RCSI-MUB) are over. I may have said something similar last year, after three years as an examiner. However, I was invited to sit for a further year, and the absolute maximum is four. I am sorry to leave and will miss my visits to the island, but other opportunities are opening for me in the Middle East, to be reported in due course.

In addition to examining, I gave a workshop on scientific writing, after which I presented certificates to newly inducted members of the Rufaida Honor Nursing Society. Officers of the society recently met Hester C. Klopper, PhD, MBA, RN, RM, FANSA, president of the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI), when she was visiting the Middle East, and the local society is making progress in its bid for STTI membership.

New inductees of the Rufaida Honor Nursing Society.

Uncool running

I rose almost early enough on two mornings to avoid the sun but failed to escape it completely. At 5:30 a.m., it is in the low 30s Celsius (86 Fahrenheit), but during the day it has been as high as 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), and when the sun is up, it is impossible to walk, let alone run. Foolishly, I went running at 6 p.m. one evening before it had cooled down, and the ambient temperature was body temperature (37 Celsius/98.6 Fahrenheit). The rest of the story is nearly heat-stroke history.

It was hot in Bahrain!

When I ran recently in a more civilised temperature back home in England, I completed a 10 kilometres race in 46 minutes and 5 seconds, three seconds above my personal best. The 46-minute target continues to elude me. For the rest of the running year, I’m going to focus on breaking 21 minutes for 5 kilometres, something I want to achieve before I am 60 years old.

The next few weeks

Back home at the University of Hull, I am handing back the job of associate dean for research and enterprise in stages to the incumbent, who will resume the position in July. The role has not prevented me from travelling or missing the most important meetings that go with it. Essentially, there is barely a job that cannot be done remotely these days, and nearly all of the administrative aspects of the role were done online. Our faculty of health and social care is now under the leadership of Julie Jomeen, PhD, RN, RM, and I look forward to discussing the next few years—the final ones of my career—with her soon.

Over the rest of June, I visit Spain, Hong Kong, Korea, and Australia. I will report in detail from each of these places, but I am pleased to note that my link with the Hong Kong Polytechnic will continue. I had reported its end in a previous entry, but today I was invited to become a visiting professor again, but in a different role. The university has launched a massive open online course (MOOC) in anatomy, to which I will contribute. “Human Anatomy” is offered under the auspices of EdX, which involves prestigious partner universities such as Harvard and MIT in the United States.

The world needed another Watson

Two weeks ago, Alex Watson, my sixth grandchild—no granddaughters yet—was born to the delight of his parents and grandparents but consternation of his big brother Connor who seems to be tolerating this 100 percent increase in number of his siblings and 50 percent decrease in amount of attention he gets. Yours Truly also has to fight for attention. I can almost predict the welcome tomorrow: “Oh, you’re back. When are you away again?”

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International.