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, especially those that work in Intensive Care Units where they deal with the most difficult situations, seems to be especially sensitive when it comes to interculturality. As they often work with unconsciousness patients and family might be not in reach, they are expected to know how to care for a patient depending on culture and religion. For example, Semites do not permit to touch the body by a third party; Muslims should not be given any porcine insulin or any medications containing alcohol; Muslims or Jehowa Witnesses reject any available of blood therapies or any derivatives of it. There might be also certain expectations concerning organ transplantation, dealing with the body post mortem. Lack of understanding leads to frustration, anxiety and aggression. 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: - deepen 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 specialist 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. The project is centred among development of three main Intellectual Outputs. The first 6 months will be devoted to the needs analysis and creation of the report on the basis of which the next outputs will be created. The Intercultural course for ICU Nurses will be developed in cooperation between all partners and implemented on-line as e-learning course. After through testing, its final version will be recommended by EfCCNa and documentation for accreditation of the course will be submitted by medical partners in all their countries. The third Intellectual Output will be the recommendations for the model of medical documentation for ICU Nurses which will be ready for practical use in Intensive Care Units. Besides main intellectual outputs, the project will organise multiplier events in all partner countries which will gather 300 stakeholders. It is expected that the impact of the project will be significant at all levels. Local, regional and national levels will be impacted by the dissemination activities performed by partners in their regions and countries. As the result, the ICU Nurses will increase their vocational competencies and receive a practical tool for work with patients from different cultures. Thanks to the involvement of EfCCNa (partner of the project) which gathers 25000 ICU Nurses from 28 countries, the impact will be seen also on the European level which assures long-term benefits in the shape of better qualified medical personel ready for caring culturally dissimilar patients.
Already in 2003 the Swiss Forum for Migration and Population Studies (2003) and lately scientists from London`s Global University (2011) noticed, that the cultural diversity will be one of the most important factor in health-care area. Due to this, it is important to equip medical personnel with proper cultural competencies. As an answer to the above needs, the MICE-ICU project aimed at improving the knowledge, skills and cultural competencies of nurses working in intensive care units (ICUs). The MICE-ICU project was developed to improve knowledge, skills and competencies of ICU nurses in cultural sensitive care by developing and providing online access to a specialist, multicultural course for ICU nurses. The partnership started from the initiative of Polish Society of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Nurses (PTPAiIO). PTPAiIO and two higher education institutions: the College of Nursing in Celje from Slovenia and the University of Ostrava from Czech Republic engaged scientific experts in order to prepare proper methodological approach to achieve the objectives of the project. The high quality of the project results and the effectiveness of dissemination were ensured by the European federation of Critical Care Nursing associations (EfCCNa) - who is a European network and umbrella organisation for national associations of intensive/critical care nurses. EfCCNa consists of 28 national European critical care nursing associations, and represents more than 25 000 critical care nurses in Europe. The strategic partnership was supported by Danmar Computers Lld., who became the technical partner, responsible for preparing e-learning platform, MICE-ICU web site and other IT solutions. Finally the assist GmbH from Germany joined the partnership and offered expertise in training international soft skills as well as train-the-trainer training. All partners, except for Danmar Computers Lld. and assist GmbH acted as experts in the intensive nursing care. Despite the differences in the nature of main activities of the each partner, all of them contributed to the final outcomes of the MICE project. Main activities conducted during the project include: Literature review and ICU nurses training needs analysis – the systematic literature review was conducted by researchers from Poland, Slovenia and Czech Republic in order to identify nurses educational needs related to multicultural care in ICU in participating countries. Additionally the survey technique was used to identify actual cultural competences level of ICU nurses. The Healthcare Provider Cultural Competence Instrument (HPCCI) developed by Schwarz i in. (2015) was used for this purpose. In total 598 ICU nurses participated in this study including 155 nurses (25.92%) from Poland (PL), 218 (36.45%) from Czech Republic CZ), 97 (16.22%) from Slovenia (SI) and 128 (21.40%) from 20 European countries like Sweden, Izrael, Finland, Denmark. The results of literature review and training needs analysis formed the basis for developing the course curriculum and content. 1. The course was developed in cooperation between all partners and implemented on-line as e-learning course. It was agreed that the course will consist of three modules: Module I: Cultural awareness and sensitivity, Module II: Culturally diverse patients in health care environment, Module III: Specifics when caring for culturally diverse patients on ICU. The course starts with entry test of knowledge and ends with ending test. Topics prepared by the individual partner were reviewed by other partners, further developed or modified and finally the preliminary version of the course content was agreed. The course was translated into Polish, Czech and Slovenian languages. Danmar Computers Lld. implemented the course online and provided access to the testing platform. 2. Testing phase involved nurses from PL, CZ, SI and a few European countries, who took the e-learning course and answered questionnaires regarding usability, effectiveness and provided other suggestion to improve course quality. 3. The final version of the online course on multicultural care for ICU nurses was presented to EfCCNa council members and the join decision to recommend this course for ICU nurses all over the Europe was stated. The MICE-ICU project resulted in a specialized and accredited e-learning course on multicultural care dedicated to nurses working in intensive care environments. Besides main intellectual outputs, the multiplier events in all partner countries and the international Symposium on Multicultural Care were organized. The impact of MICE ICU project is expected on national and the European levels which assure long-term benefits in the shape of better qualified ICU nurses ready for caring for culturally dissimilar patients. If relevant, longer-term benefits. As the result, the ICU Nurses will increase their vocational competencies and receive a practical tool for work with patients from different cultures.