Editorial

Abstract

One of the exciting developments that took place at the ICN Congress in May 2005 was the launch of the new International Centre on Nurse Migration. Announced at the close of the ICN International Summit on Nursing Workforce, the Centre is supported jointly by the International Council of Nurses (ICN) and the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools. The Centre's website (http://www.intlnursemigration.org) will act as a portal for policy, research studies and other information regarding migration trends and statistics. Many nurses are already involved in research on migration and we are delighted to publish some of their work in this issue. Roswyn Hakesley-Brown, a past president of the Royal College of Nursing, reports in her Guest Editorial on work in progress in the United Kingdom (UK) on ‘Liberating the skills of refugee nurses’. She points out that nurses who have been forced into involuntary migration represent a ‘significant but largely untapped pool of talent’. The government established a task force in 2003 to explore ways in which refugee nurses could be assimilated into the UK workforce, and in July 2004 a health minister launched a strategy to address the many issues identified. Acquisition of the necessary language skills was one of the issues identified by the UK Strategy Task Force, together with the need for preadaptation programmes and supervised practice placements. These requirements are common for any migrant nurse. In this issue of INR an article from Iceland, entitled Overcoming strangeness and communication barriers, describes migrant nurses’ personal experiences of adjusting to a totally different culture. The author uses the phrase, ‘becoming an outsider and needing to be let in’, as an evocative description of the feelings of the nurses in the study. Another article in this issue, titled Nursing Shortages and international nurse migration, highlights how inequitable nurse migration has become for some of the very poorest countries. A relatively small number of nurses moving from a country with a very low gross domestic product (GDP) can represent a huge proportion of its overall nursing labour force. The authors show that individuals manage to overcome the financial and other constraints involved in moving, and that shared language and bilateral trade between countries tends to support nurses’ increased migration. Nurses also work with refugees. Other articles in this issue describe two very different scenarios. The first article discusses the need for cultural sensitivity and qualitative methods when undertaking research with long-standing residents of Jordanian refugee camps. The second article, from Sweden, reports on an exploratory study of immigrants in emergency care. Not surprisingly, some of the most difficult problems involved refugees seeking asylum. The authors emphasize the need for organizational support and national policies to assist nurses in these situations. This sample of nurses’ work on migration demonstrates how differently the term may be defined in varied situations. Definitions are also the focus of nursing classification for practice, the subject of the three remaining articles in this issue. ICN's important work in developing the International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP®) was also reported at the 2005 Congress. Unfortunately, space dictates that this subject must be the theme of an editorial in 2006. Meanwhile, best wishes to all INR readers for a peaceful and good new year. The International Council of Nurses extends its warmest greetings to nurses in each of the world's countries. We admire and appreciate your dedication, often in the face of difficult situations, to improving the health of individuals, families, communities and nations. We wish peace and health for you, your families, and the millions of people you serve, and look forward to working with you to advance world health in the New Year.