Last month, we were delighted to meet with adaptation leads, clinical practice facilitators and support nurses for an information session on the adaptation and assessment of internationally educated nurses (IENs).

Our Director of Registration, Dr Ray Healy opened the workshop by providing statistics on IEN applications from the State of the Register, as well as information on the qualification recognition and registration process.

Ann-Marie Murray, NMBI’s Education Assessor and Project Lead, spoke about the background to the project and gave an overview of the new guidance document and revised Competency Assessment Tool which we published in June to support IENs and Health Service Providers. The guidance documents were developed to provide clarity and transparency to IENs and clinical sites to meet the standards for registration with NMBI.

Barry McBrien, Assistant Professor in General Nursing at the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin facilitated an interactive round-table discussion while sharing insights from his research on nurses who have come to Ireland to practise.

Attendees also heard from Finola O’Brien, Adaptation Lead at Tallaght University Hospital and National Lead for Adaptation (HSE Nursing Homes) who shared her expert knowledge and experience of facilitating adaptation and assessment programmes. Carly Smith, Adaptation Lead at the Saolta Hospital Group presented her research on ‘the Lived experiences of Preceptors’.

We would like to thank everyone who attended and our speakers who shared their valuable insights.