The latest Eurostat data demonstrate that the population across EU-28 increased by 1.3 million people in 2015 alone and migration has become one of the key drivers of population change. This data confirms the thesis of Dr A. Bischoff from Swiss Forum for Migration and Population Studies (2003) and scientists from London`s Global University (2011) who noticed, that the cultural diversity will be one of the most important factor in health-care area.

The role of nurses working in intercultural environments, especially those that work in Intensive Care Units, seems to be very sensitive. As they often work with unconscious patients, whose family might not be in reach, they are expected to know how to care for a patient depending on culture and religion.

Lack of cultural awareness may be a danger to patient’s dignity. Due to this, it is important to equip medical personnel with proper competencies. As an answer to the above needs, the project aims at improving the knowledge, skills and competencies of the ICU nurses when caring for a culturally dissimilar patient. This aim will be achieved through in-depth analysis of intercultural training needs and intercultural competencies of ICU Nurses, development of specialist and accredited multicultural course for ICU Nurses, preparing recommendations for medical documentation to be used by ICU Nurses, wide dissemination of the outputs across whole Europe.

The project will directly involve 520 ICU Nurses. 400 of them will take part in the intercultural training needs and competencies analysis, and 120 will test the e-learning course designed especially for them. Other ICU Nurses and Experts from different medical areas will participate in working groups organised in each country in order to consult the developed material.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.