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Purpose: Ensuring safe healthcare services is one of today's most challenging issues, especially in light of the increasing mobility of health professionals and patients. In the last few years, nursing research has contributed to the creation of a culture of safety that is an integral part of clinical care and a cornerstone of healthcare systems. Organizing Constructs: European institutions continue to discuss methods and tools that would best contribute to ensuring safe and high-quality care, as well as ensuring access to healthcare services. According to the European Commission between 8% and 12% of patients admitted to hospitals in the European Union member states suffer from adverse events while receiving care, although some of these events are part of the intrinsic risk linked to receiving care. However, most of these adverse events are caused by such avoidable healthcare errors as, for instance, diagnosis mistakes, inability to act on the results of tests, medication errors, failures of healthcare equipment and hospital infections. Nosocomial infections alone are estimated to affect 4.1 million inpatients, that is, about 1 of every 20 inpatients, causing avoidable suffering and mortality, as well as an enormous loss of financial resources (at least 5.48 billion [euro] a year). Conclusions: The Internal Market Information (IMI) System, developed by the European Commission, aims at contributing to patient safety by means of a timely and updated exchange of information among nursing regulatory bodies on the good standing and scope of practice of their registrants. Through the IMI System, the European Federation of Nursing Regulators will improve its electronic database on nurses to allow national nursing regulatory bodies to exchange the information needed to recognize the nurses' educational and professional qualifications and competencies. This process both facilitates the mobility of professionals and ensures high-quality nursing practice in an even and consistent way across the European Union. Clinical Relevance: On a national basis, nursing regulatory bodies play an important role in ensuring patient safety through high standards of nursing education and competence, whereas on an international basis, patient safety can assured by a better exchange of information between national regulatory bodies on the good professional standing of nurses. Key words Internal Market Information Project, European Council of Nursing Regulators, patient safety, European nursing mobility

Purpose: Transitions in nursing education and professionalism that align with global nursing standards are elucidated as critical success factors in transforming health professionals and health care in Albania. Progressive educational and regulatory pathways throughout the 2000s (1999–2020) are emphasized for their impact on the Albanian health system, including the achievement of universal healthcare coverage. Methods: Data collected by the Ministry of Health and Sport and the Regulatory Authority for nursing and other healthcare professions in Albania were analyzed and outcomes explicated with regard to Albania's major health challenges. Discussion and Conclusions: Three milestones affirmed nursing as a driving force in the Albanian healthcare system: (a) nurses constitute the largest health professional workforce via a nurse–patient ratio of 1:400 in contrast to a physician–patient ratio of 1:2,500; (b) nurses are frontline care providers via clinical leadership in the management of primary healthcare centers, which ensure universal healthcare coverage; and (c) nurses are first responders via their presence and compassionate caring in the primary healthcare centers, including making critical shifts in converting primary healthcare centers to urgent care centers as needed. Clinical Relevance: Nursing advancements have implicated quality care and professionalism in Albania across the health professions via three critical pathways: (a) health professional education at a university degree level for entry into practice (since 1999), which was prompted by and driven by nursing's quest to be a self‐regulated profession (achieved in 2007); (b) healthcare global standards sparked by nursing's mandate toward professional autonomy, as achieved via regulatory procedures and policies; and (c) interprofessional healthcare initiatives that serve as collaborative platforms for innovative educational, clinical, and research projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]