Chairperson of the Board of Directors
Japan Academy of Nursing Education

Hitomi Maeda, PhD

2024 Greetings from New Chairperson, Hitomi Maeda

　I have been appointed as the eighth President of the Japan Academy of Nursing Education, succeeding former President Yumiko Oshima. As the President of this Academy, which has a long history in nursing education research, I will sincerely tackle nursing education research aimed at ensuring and improving the quality of nursing practice in Japan, so I appreciate your continued support.
　The Japan Academy of Nursing Education (JANE) started as a nursing education research institute founded by the association of full-time teachers for nursing education organized by the alumni of the training seminars for full-time teachers for nursing schools in 1952. Furthermore, in 2014, in order to fulfil our social role as an academic organization, we changed our name to the “Japan Academy of Nursing Education General Incorporated Association.”
　The definition of the term “nursing education” in the Academy's name was carefully considered to include continuing education, while focusing on basic nursing education and education at schools such as graduate schools, in line with the Academy's objectives. In 2015, “nursing education” was defined as “a teaching and learning process that is carried out in accordance with the nursing system for those who aspire to become nurses and those who have nursing qualifications in order to ensure or improve the quality of nursing practice.”
　Due to the rapid digitalization that has progressed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the arrival of the 100-year life era, people's health needs are becoming increasingly diverse and complex. Furthermore, it is expected that the population will decline at a rate equivalent to one large city of 1 million people disappearing every year. There are already nursing basic education institutions with ‘under-enrolment’ where enrolments are lower than the enrolment capacity. The development of artificial intelligence (AI) to resolve the labour shortage has progressed remarkably, but in order to meet the diverse expectations of people toward nursing, it is necessary to explore the education and learning process of nursing to develop human resources who can fully consider and execute the role that nurses should truly play, which cannot be fulfilled by AI.
　The previous board of directors implemented various reforms to ensure and improve the quality of nursing education, such as digitizing and archiving materials and converting the academic journal into online journal. Our new board of directors will take over these efforts and strive to run the Academy in a way that gives profits back to members in a meaningful way, with the aim of supporting and nurturing members who will lead the next generation of nursing education and deepening nursing education research.
　We hope that all of our members will continue to be even more active in the future, and we look forward to your continued support and cooperation with the leadership of the Academy.