Prof Welma Lubbe from the Quality in Nursing and Midwifery (NuMIQ) research focus area at the North-West University (NWU) has been appointed as the nursing representative on the global committee for the Newborn Brain Society.

Prof Lubbe, who is the director of NuMIQ and focuses her research on neonatal care in the Faculty of Health Sciences, will represent the nursing profession in an international forum focused on newborn brain health.

“I have become very involved in neurodevelopmental supportive care over the course of my career. Nurses are the professionals who are at the bedside 24 hours per day and therefore the most involved with patient care,” she says.

She adds that the appointment will help ensure that nurses’ perspectives are integrated into global conversations and that technical information is translated into language accessible to both parents and professionals.

“Personally, I am excited to work with other professionals on an international level and hope that this position will provide a vehicle for more research and practice improvement that is also suitable for the South African context, learning from and giving back to the international stage.”.

Prof Lubbe describes her role as “linking the dots” between disciplines, care approaches and families.

“I love to see how things are all linked – various professional disciplines, new approaches to care based on the best available evidence, and parents becoming a central part of the care-giving team,” she says.

She explains that her aim is to serve as a translator of evidence across contexts and to demonstrate that solutions can emerge from Africa.

“Globally, I hope to be a translator of evidence from one context to the next, finding solutions to situations that are often seen as barriers to implementing evidence-based

care, and finally to demonstrate that South Africa and Africa can also provide the evidence and lead practice and research from the south.”

Prof Lubbe adds that her goal is to affirm the nursing profession’s role within the broader care team.

“My goal for this term is to demonstrate the role of the nursing profession in the multi-disciplinary team and show that nurses have a key role in the implementation of the latest evidence. Nursing is a science and an art, and we work from the laboratory to conducting challenging technical procedures at the bedside and most importantly to support babies and their families during the most fragile time in their lives.”

Prof Welma Lubbe joins the global committee of the Newborn Brain Society