8 May 2007

Publication of Royal College of Nursing Competency for travel health nurses

The Travel Health Forum of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) have published a competency document that outlines guidelines and standards for the care of travellers by nurses: “Competencies: an integrated career and competency framework for nurses in travel health medicine”.

The document defines the standard that is expected for three different levels of expertise within travel medicine: a competent nurse, an experienced/proficient nurse and a senior practitioner/expert nurse. The RCN competency framework mirrors the career frameworks designed around the Core functions of the consultant nurse, and the career benchmarks of the Agenda for Change and the NHS Knowledge and Skills Framework. The document describes the concept of risk assessment in detail, an understanding of which is essential for those providing travel health advice.

Link

RCN Competencies: an integrated career and competency framework for nurses in travel health medicine

http://www.rcn.org.uk/publications/pdf/travel_health_medicine.pdf