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.

According to recent estimates on the availability of healthcare professionals in the Member States, the EU is expected to be confronted with a shortage of approx. 1 million health professionals by 2020. Researchers indicate that shortages are expected to be particularly for Critical Care Nursing (CCN) , elderly care and general practice professionals (Kroezen, M. et. al. 2018). In this context, reducing nursing staff turnover and increasing the appeal of the nursing profession becomes of paramount importance for the European Union Member States. In this context the project we propose will focus on CCN staff and suggest an intervention aimed at reducing staff turnover and rates for nurses leaving the profession by supporting critical-care nurses in developing the skills required for a healthy work environment.The project OBJECTIVE is to develop the first open and multilingual blended (online and face to face) training course for nurse training professionals to develop Healthy Work Environments (HWE) knowledge, skills and competences for CCU nurses. To this end, a sectoral partnership was created consisting of organisations in five different countries. Organisations active in the (continuous) development of CCU nurses in Cyprus, Spain, Poland and Croatia are joined by a company highly experienced in the development of customised training curricula in soft skills from Romania in order to jointly develop the first blended training course in HWE. Partners will work together to develop the blended training content according to their experience and expertise.A healthy workplace is one where workers and managers collaborate to continually improve the health, safety and wellbeing of all workers and by doing this, sustain the productivity of the business (Burton, J., 2010). Research in this field indicates a positive correlation between healthy nurse work environments, nurse job satisfaction and retention, and patient outcomes (Ulrich, B. et. al., 2014). The content of the blended training will be addresses at trainers working with CCU nurses. Trainers will develop relevant knowledge, skills and competences in HWE and will become able to train CCU nurses in this field. The blended training content will comprise the following 4 modules:- Module 1 – Facilitator content: aimed at familiarizing trainers involved in the (continuous) development of CCU nurses with the notion of HWE, the relevant knowledge, skills and competences required. The module will also comprise detailed guidelines to support trainers in the design and delivery of HWE training. - Module 2 – Toolbox: a set of methods, tools and supporting materials for HWE development. - Module 3 – Student content: one detailed Lesson plan for each of the six dimensions of HWE: Skilled communication, True collaboration, Effective decision-making, Appropriate staffing, Meaningful recognition, Authentic leadership. - Module 4 – Assessment and Recognition tools for trainers and CCU nurses completing the blended training solution.The blended training solution will be developed by the project partners based on their experience and expertise. In order to evaluate how effective the online training is, the blended training content will be tested in four pilots with the support of 8 trainers and 32 CCU nurses in Cyprus, Spain, Croatia and Poland. This step is an essential one in the completion of the training content as it will allow project partners the opportunity to collect valuable feedback regarding the content proposed, its suitability and accessibility, as well as the functioning of the online platform from both trainers and CCU nurses. The online training course will be hosted in an e-learning platform, accessible from computers, tablets and smartphones. The platform will be available in six languages: English, Spanish, Greek, Croatian, Polish and Romanian.At the end of the project, the blended training content will be available online, as an Open Educational Resource, to be accessed freely by any interested party. The content will be available in English, Greek, Romanian, Croatian, Polish and Spanish. The blended training content has increased potential to be exploited by a wide range of organisations and individuals across Europe. This is why project results will be disseminated by project partners among training professionals involved in the (continuous) professional development of CCU nurses in different professional organisations (i.e. universities, healthcare organisations and other professional bodies), policy makers, CCU nurses staff and the local, regional, national and European media. Project results will be disseminated to at least 250 professionals involved in providing education and training in the healthcare field, 1.000 CCU nurses, 50 policy-makers and 50 media across Europe, through the project dissemination networks, as well as a minimum of 200 professionals in nurse training, CCU nurses and policy-makers through the Multiplier Events.