title: A European survey of general nurses' self assessment of competence.
abstract: Policy initiatives have prompted examination of the deployment and mobility of the nursing workforce within the European Union (EU). The European Health Care Training and Accreditation Network [EHTAN, 2005. Available from: <www.kcl.ac.uk/nursing/research/ehtan>] project aims to improve the transparency of nursing qualifications, working practices, skills and experience, thus facilitating nurse workforce mobility, through compilation of a competency matrix [Cowan, D.T., Norman I.J., Coopamah, V.P., 2005a. European healthcare training and accreditation network. British Journal of Nursing 14, 613-617; EHTAN, 2005. Available from: <www.kcl.ac.uk/nursing/research/ehtan>]. This paper reports on a survey across five EU countries in which the EHTAN nurse competence self-assessment tool was utilised. The purpose is to describe migrant nurses perception of their competence in: (a) the country where they trained and qualified and (b) the new country in which they are working and (c) to compare non-migrant nurses perception of their competence across different EU countries.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health and Social Care, London South Bank University, 103 Borough Road, London SE1 0AA, UK. david.cowan@lsbu.ac.uk
authors.forename: David T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Cowan
authors.forename: Jenifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wilson-Barnett
authors.forename: Ian J
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Norman
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003406:Credentialing; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods; D005060:Europe; D005062:European Union; D005551:Foreign Professional Personnel / Q000592:standards*; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007391:International Cooperation; D009729:Nursing / Q000592:standards*; D012655:Self-Evaluation Programs