He holds a degree and a master in Nursing, and a doctorate in Education Sciences. He is professor and researcher at CINTESIS, coordinator of the congress SafeCare and current president of the Nursing School of Porto (ESEP). His name is Luís Carvalho. He is 55 years-old and was born in Angola. He was just 12 when the war made him come back to Portugal. That was in 1975. With him came along the family and together they lived “some rough time”.
Viana do Castelo was his second home until he finished de Nursing course. He moved to Porto in 1984 with the objective of working in the IPO – Portuguese Institute of Oncology, which already at the time was a reference institution for oncological diseases. In between times, he had to complete two years of mandatory military service in none other than the “Rangers”.
Since coming back to work he has always combined his Nursing practice to teaching. In 1989, he decided to apply for a post as professor at the former Nursing School of D. Ana Guedes. He was admitted and so he chose to have a career as a higher education professor.
In 2007, the public higher nursing schools of Porto were merged and the Nursing School of Porto (ESEP) was created. At ESEP, he was the coordinator of the bachelor degree course and, in 2013, he assumed the presidency of the Scientific Council, finishing his term in 2017. In 2018, he was unanimously voted president of ESEP.
“I face this challenge with a sense of responsibility and a spirit of mission. I did not apply to the presidency of the School for personal ambition, nor for vanity. I feel a great motivation to serve the ESEP, because I out myself at the service of the School and the community, among other reasons because I believe in the qualities of our academy, which ensure the capacity to fight for everything we believe in” he affirms.
The bachelor degree in Nursing from the ESEP is the one with the highest admission score in the country, and is one of the most sought, with 1069 applicants for the 257 available positions.
However, the work has been hard. “We live in a phase of great budgetary constraints, of internal difficulties due to the need to implement processes of great complexity, namely the assessment of the Faculty members’ performance and the accreditation process of the quality management system,” he says.
As a researcher, he is currently involved in different research projects. He is the coordinator of SafeCare – Clinical Supervision for Care Safety and Quality. Financed by the European Union and by FEDER with more than 122 thousand euros, this project is developed by CINTESIS/ESEP, in partnership with the Polytechnic of Viana do Castelo and the Local Health Unit of Matosinhos (ULSM).
“It is an action research project: in the initial phase we perform the evaluation of nurses’ needs in clinical supervision, in the second phase we implement the contextualized model and in the third phase we proceed to evaluate the contributions of the Clinical Supervision for the safety and quality of care”, he explains.
Being a researcher, you cannot fail to look favorably on your students and the teachers of the institution you are directing to do research. As he says, research is “imperative! The School has been trying to provide conditions for its faculty members to do research and provide resources, including financial resources.”
As for the partnership with CINTESIS, Luís Carvalho affirms that it is “strategic at various levels. I was a member of the Scientific Council when we went along this path, joining CINTESIS; a strong, consolidated organization that has allowed us to leverage research that produces and consolidates knowledge, to share ideas with researchers from other areas, and to garner recognition for research in Nursing. This partnership has also allowed a strategic approach to the University of Porto”.
As for the future, Luis Carvalho has already set the course: “Most of our professors are researchers at CINTESIS and practically all research projects are allocated to this center. My perspective, as president of the School, is to maintain this strategy. We have challenges to discuss in conjunction with CINTESIS, but our intention is to maintain this commitment and contribute to the consolidation of Nursing as a knowledge discipline, which will undoubtedly result in a more meaningful Nursing for people. ”
What is your 1-Year Ambition?
Next year, my ambition is clearly to stabilize the School and implement a model of strategic governance, adopting a new organizational model that goes through the reorganization of services and the implementation of a new system of documentary and academic management. It is also important to review ESEP’s education offer, adapting it to the professional development model presented by the Order of Nurses.
What is your 10-Year Ambition?
My ambitions are the ambitions of the School. I am facing these four years of office with a spirit of mission. The objective is to consolidate the management model, and to develop strategies to create conditions for the integration of the School in the U.Porto, as an Organic Unit, provided that this is a shared desire. For the next few years, we must focus on sustainability, innovation and quality, which are fundamental elements to face the challenges and constraints of the present and to design the future of the School, in the defense of its autonomy, centered on an organization that aims to be creative, innovative, competitive and sustainable.
How is life beyond research and ESEP’s Presidency?
My day is totally dedicated to the School. I do not have too much free time, but when I do I am totally dedicated to family and friends. My application to the presidency of the School was discussed and shared with the family, who now understand my restrictions. I am married and have two wonderful children. We like to be in contact with nature. We especially like walking next to the beach, and doing cultural activities. We go regularly to the movies, to the theater and to music shows.