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Introduction Nurses educated in the European Union and European Economic Area are automatically given professional authorization to work in all member states, facilitating workforce mobility between countries. Along with many other European countries, Norway faces nursing shortages in healthcare. European Foreign Educated Nurses are often recruited to work in Norway by agencies or apply for work themselves. Aims To explore the experiences Foreign Educated Nurses from European Union and European Economic Area had with their preparation and orientation programs and their first year of work in Norwegian elderly care institutions Methods The study followed a qualitative explorative design. Nine open, dialogue-based, semi-structured interviews were conducted with Foreign Educated Nurses from Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Iceland, and Spain. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Findings One main theme, struggling to adjust to professional competence standards, and four subthemes emerged from our data (1) deficiencies in preparation and orientation by recruitment agencies and institutions, (2) language skills and communication challenges at work, (3) cultural differences in the nursing role in clinical practice, and (4) social interactions at work. Conclusion More comprehensive preparation and orientation programs regarding language skills and local healthcare systems are needed. Foreign Educated Nurses make important contributions to the Norwegian healthcare work force, but the challenges brought to light in this study negatively affected their work conditions and can possibly threaten patient safety. More research is suggested to address the lack of collaboration between agencies, healthcare institutions, and other stakeholders in establishing professional standards and appropriate support for Foreign Educated Nurses from European Union and European Economic Area.

In this study, we aim to understand midwife leaders’ perspectives on continuing professional education among midwives in their work unit. We used a phenomenological perspective and method in the process of interviewing the participants and analyzing the data. Five midwife leaders who worked in large maternity wards and had considerable experience as managers were recruited. Results revealed three essential constituents: (a) constraints and the individualization of continuing professional education, (b) normal and at-risk births: fluid boundaries and moving targets, and (c) a personal approach: dimensions of control and trust-driven leadership. We discuss these findings in relation to current research and perspectives on how professional cultures and leadership impact continuing professional education and knowledge management, revealing possible implications to further promote professional development in public health organizations. We conclude that midwife leaders’ views on continuing professional education as practical skills training may hinder professional communication and knowledge development in maternity care.

The change of the anesthesia-, intensive-, surgery-, and oncological nursing postgraduate education into clinical-oriented master programs makes it necessary to increase the professional skills of nurse specialist clinical supervisors. A competence program for clinical supervisors (15 credits) was developed by a university in Norway from 2014 to 2015 in order to facilitate capacity building of academic and pedagogical knowledge. To illuminate nurse specialist clinical supervisors' learning components by implementing a competence program in clinical supervision. A qualitative document analysis of 44 written assignments made by 18 nurse specialist clinical supervisors participating in the competence program, which were collected from the University's electronic learning platform. One main theme and two themes emerged: Changes in the professional paradigm, Learning components that influence clinical supervisors' style and Learning components that have an impact on clinical supervisors' professional growth. This study provides valuable insight into the learning components in clinical supervision that have contributed to a change in the nurse specialist clinical supervision paradigm. The supervisors have formal competence to provide clinical supervision to postgraduate students at master level. The program confirms the value of educating nurse specialist clinical supervisors and we recommend that it should be continued and further evaluated.