Department of Nursing

Research topics

• Evidence-based nursing and changing professional values. Head of the research topic: Prof. Aurelija Blaževičienė.
• Spirituality in healthcare: the quality of patients’ spiritual care and the competences of healthcare professionals in spiritual care: an interdisciplinary approach. Head of the research topic: Prof. Olga Riklikienė.
• Women’s and Family Health and Quality of Midwifery Services: a Multidisciplinary Perspective. Head of the research topic: Prof. Olga Riklikenė and Prof. Aurelija Blaževičienė.

COST activities from 2023

• The Department implements COST activities administered by the Research Council of Lithuania. Collaboratively Developed culturallY Appropriate and inclusive Assessment tool for Palliative Care EDUcation. Coordinator of activities: Prof. Olga Riklikienė. The aim of this COST action is to develop gold-standard quality indicators for high-quality education and training in palliative care.
• Implements COST activity administered by the Research Council of Lithuania “Ethics in Dementia(EDEM)”. Coordinator of activities: Prof. Olga Riklikienė. The main objective of COST is to reduce burnout and moral distress of among caregivers and promote the dignity, autonomy, and quality of life for people with dementia.
• Since 2020, the Department of Nursing has been implementing COST activity administered by the Research Council of Lithuania: “International Interdisciplinary Network on Smart Healthy Age-friendly Environments”.Coordinator of activities: Prof. Aurelija Blaževičienė.
• Since 2020, the Department of Nursing has been implementing a new COST activity supervised by the Research Council of Lithuania “Developing Privacy-Aware Audio- and Video-Based Applications for Active and Assisted Living”. Coordinator of activities: Prof. Aurelija Blaževičienė.

International projects

• The Department of Nursing currently implements the project “Health Professionals’ and “DigitAI team SkillS Advancement” (H-PASS) (2023–2026), funded under the EU4H programme (No. 11101139 (HaDEA). The overarching aim of the H-PASS project is to design and test a curriculum with relevant modules (synchronous and asynchronous), to develop training materials and tools that target transversal skills and competenses and nurture digital skills. Target groups of the project: doctors, nurses, midwives, and pharmacists. 6 partner countries of the project: Italy, Greece, Romania; Cyprus, Hungary, and Lithuania. Project leader: Prof. Aurelija Blaževičienė.
• Project “Development of Home visitation early intervention model” LT03-2-SAM-TF-002 (2020–2024). This project is the first initiative in Lithuania to help families, in particular those from vulnerable groups, to develop parenting skills, to help create a safe environment for children, and to change the “cultural-historical” awareness in relation to childcare and upbringing. This project will create a patient-centred service, raising awareness of families and helping them embrace greater responsibility for their health and safety and those of their children. Project leader: Professor Aurelija Blaževičienė. More details: https://seimoslankymas.lt/

Projects implemented during 2018–2023

• Accelerating master and PhD level nursing education development in the higher education system in Kazakhstan (AccelEd), 2020–2023 (No. 618052-EPP-1-202-1-EPPKA2-CBHE-SP). The project is part of the Erasmus+ programme. Project coordinator: LSMU (Lithuania). Project partners: AMU (Kazakhstan), AAU (Finland), JAMK (Finland), KNMU (Kazakhstan), KMU (Kazakhstan), NU (Kazakhstan), MoH (Kazakhstan), MoEds (Kazakhstan), UMCU (Netherlands), SKMA (Kazakhstan). The aim of the project is to enhance the development of nursing education in Kazakhstan and to develop the competences of teachers-researchers. Read moreabout the project.
• Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership: Digital and hybrid teaching and learning of practical skills in higher education– DITEPRAC (2020-1-FI01-KA226-HE-092515; 2021–2022). The main coordinator is Arcada University (Finland). Project participants: Portugal, Turkey, Sweden, Latvia. The project activities in Lithuania are coordinated by Prof. Aurelija Blaževičienė.
• Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership “Quality Mentorship for Developing Competent Nursing Students”– QuaMent), 2018–2021. Coordinated by the College of Nursing, Celje, Slovenia. LSMU was represented by Prof. Olga Riklikienė.
• The Erasmus+ project“Take Care International: TCI” (Project 2019-1-DE02-KA202-006562; 2019 – 2021). Project participants: Germany, Austria, Estonia, Lithuania. The project activities in Lithuania were coordinated by Prof. Aurelija Blaževičienė. More details about the project.
• “Being in silence: mindfulness as a resource for therapeutic spiritual relationship”, 2020.
  This project received the support from the Office of Higher Education of the Baltic States and Germany through the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), funded by the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany. Project participants: Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (Lithuania), Witten/Herdecke University (Germany), Riga Stradiņš University (Latvia), Tartu Health Care College (Estonia). Project lead: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lina Spirgienė.
• Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership “The Erasmus+ Strategic Partnerships for higher education titled ‘Enhancing Nurses Competence in Providing Spiritual Care through Innovative Education and Compassionate Care – EPICC’ ”, 2016-1-UK01-KA203-024467), 2016–2019. Participants: Prof. Olga Riklikienė. Project objectives: to set up a sustainable and active network of nursing educators to share experiences, research, and resources related to the provision and teaching of spiritual care; to enable nursing educators to acquire new knowledge and skills in order to embrace and communicate the personal, religious and spiritual aspects of patient-centred care; to examine the focus on the personal, religious and spiritual aspects of patient-centred care in different European countries; to identify the antecedents and barriers to the implementation of spiritual care competences in nursing student education; to develop and test an innovative, dynamic and flexible model for the development of nurses’ spiritual care competences, based on good practice in European countries; to disseminate the results of the project among students, patients, and the public. Project activities: review of nursing programme curricula, design and testing of the model, two dissemination events, and training events. For more information: EPICC Project.
• Project: “Competence development at the EC RSH International Conference”, No. 09.3.3-LMT-K-712-06-0167
• In July–August 2019, the project was carried out by the Department of Nursing and Care at the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences: “Analysis of intercultural competences of anaesthesia and intensive care nurses”.Project leader: Prof. Aurelija Blaževičienė.
• In 2019–2020, the Department participated in the project “Patient First. Improvement of patient care services in Polish-Lithuanian borderland” (No. LT-PL-3R-246) under the Interreg V-A Lithuania-Poland Cross Border Cooperation Programme (2019–2020). The project activities in Lithuania were coordinated by Prof. Aurelija Blaževičienė.
• In 2017–2020, together with the Department of Preventive Medicine, the ERASMUS+KA2 project IHOD “Improving healthcare outcomes in chronic disease – enhancing the curriculum at masters level” (586094-EPP-1-2017-1-1E-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP (2017-2902/001-001) was implemented. The project activities were coordinated by Prof. Aurelija Blaževičienė and Prof. Linas Šumskas.
• In 2018, the Department of Nursing and Care at the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences carried out a project “Interdisciplinary Approach to Enhancing the Quality of Spiritual Care for Chronically Ill Patients and the Elderly“. Project leader: Prof. Olga Riklikienė.
• In July–August 2018, the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Department of Nursing and Care carried out a project “Assessment of nurses’ attitudes towards the involvement of relatives/caregivers in home care services“.Project leader: Prof. Aurelija Blaževičienė.

The Department of Nursing participates in multi-professional networks: Rosa Linea, Nordman, Trollnet, Nordinnett, funded by the Nord Plus programme.

The Department of Nursing has 18 Erasmus/Socrates exchange agreements with universities across Europe. Every year, the Department hosts or employs professors from foreign universities (Finland, UK, USA, Japan) who give lectures to students and organise training sessions for teachers.

The Department of Nursing is a member of The Global Consortium of Nursing & Midwifery Studies, European Network of Nursing Academies and UDINE C.