The II International Congress of Community Nursing (CIEC26) kicked off in Chaves, at the Higher School of Health of the Portuguese Red Cross – Alto Tâmega, on a Friday and lasted two days. The event, themed "Leadership, Proximity and Value in Community Nursing," was promoted by the Board of the Specialty College of Community Nursing of the Order of Nurses and brought together professionals and specialists to discuss leadership, proximity, innovation and the need for health responses increasingly connected to territories and communities.
The holding of the congress in Chaves represents a choice of decentralization, in a country where most reference congresses remain concentrated in large urban centers. The organization highlighted the coherence of discussing proximity in an interior territory such as Alto Tâmega, considering that the health needs of a Trás-os-Montes community may have their own specificities, related to the geography, demographics, available resources and social characteristics of the region.
The congress takes place in a particularly demanding context for health systems, marked by demographic ageing, the growth of chronic disease and multimorbidity, the persistence of health inequalities and digital transformation. Faced with this scenario, participants discussed the importance of community nursing in the early identification of needs, the anticipation of risks and the construction of territorialized responses focused on populations.
The three central concepts of the congress — leadership, proximity and value — also defined the ambition of the meeting. Digital transformation, new technologies and information systems were identified as tools that can improve accessibility, continuity and efficiency of care, but which also pose ethical, security and inclusion challenges. The objective was to promote research, sharing of good practices and the development of innovative projects capable of contributing to health systems that are closer, more sustainable and prepared for the future.
