"Nursing leadership also includes climate adaptation"

In 2020, Kim started as a professor, a great role that perfectly suits her background as a nurse and cultural anthropologist. Together with colleagues in the knowledge circle and regional partners, she conducts practice-based research on – among other topics – sustainability in healthcare. "Leadership is the common thread in everything we do within the knowledge center. As a nurse, you don’t have to stand on the sidelines and let others make decisions about your profession; you have influence on that too. You can think more broadly, show leadership, and help build what is best for the profession."

Sustainability is an important theme within the Knowledge Center for Vitality and Self-Management. "People who work in healthcare want to make people better and care for them. The paradox is that the way we work can sometimes make people sick. For example, because we use a lot of materials once and then throw them away. If we want to take better care of people, it is important that we also recognize our role in planetary health. Nursing leadership also involves climate adaptation; we need to work more sustainably and in a more circular way together. This is especially important because the most vulnerable in society are more severely impacted by the consequences of climate change."

Kim estimates that the field is ready for a more sustainable direction. "At the moment, you see that there are a few pioneers who are playing an active role in climate and sustainability in healthcare. This group is very aware of the issues at hand. The majority is absolutely open to change, but in practical terms, sometimes doesn’t know where to start. It is important that we provide tools that nurses can directly benefit from. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Within the field, there are many great initiatives from which we can learn."

Living lab

Sustainable employability of nurses is also a topic Kim is involved in. "We know that the turnover of nurses is highest in the first two years after they graduate. We want to better support starting professionals. As a knowledge center, we just completed an insightful literature study, and we are now investigating what healthcare organizations are already doing to support these often young employees. This is also a responsibility for education; we need to make the transition from studying to working easier."

Kim hopes that the knowledge center can conduct a lot of practice-oriented research on sustainability in healthcare in the coming years. She wants to bring together the existing knowledge and experience. "The most important thing is that we initiate change together. It starts with us, the nurses. Sustainability should be part of our professional identity, education, and daily practice. This change requires a lot from us, especially since the workload in healthcare is already very high," Kim notes. Therefore, the knowledge center collaborates closely with the Alrijne Zorggroep. Sustainability in healthcare demands something from ourselves, our partners, and society as a whole—actually, from all of us.