History

In February 2005, a number of people from different European countries attended a meeting in Modena, Italy, following an invitation by Bruno Ciancio (Italy) and Kari Sirkka (Finland).

ETNA was formally established at that meeting with Bruno Ciancio as its first president. Those in attendance agreed to act as their country’s representatives. There was immediate interest from a number of countries across Europe about ETNA which initially was seeking nurse membership only.

The rationale for this development was the increasing migration of people into and within Europe. This migration affected not just those requiring health care but the workforce providing such care. Migration is a challenging issue wherever and whenever it takes place. People may move easily from one country to another but they may also be fleeing from torture and persecution leaving all behind them thus requiring very special care and understanding.

Our Mission

ETNA aims to establish and manage, through co-operation among all members and experts, an exchange of ideas to promote research and knowledge development. This will be established by sharing information and experiences on principles of equitable quality care, human rights and culturally competent care within a holistic framework. In particular the focus will be on the socio-cultural diversity of people living in an increasingly global community.

Goals

• To promote, advance and disseminate transcultural nursing knowledge in education and practice through research and dialogue.
• To advance educational preparation in cultural care, to improve the quality of health care delivery to people from multicultural backgrounds.
• To explore the nature of cultural competence, its development and evaluation.
• To stimulate the development and dissemination of research in transcultural care.
• To provide a forum for the exchange of knowledge and skills through a variety of networking activities including its web-site and on-line journal.
• To contribute to improvements in the provision of culturally competent care throughout Europe.