A global view of competency in neonatal care

Neonatal Care is one specialty within nursing as a whole where the repertoire of skills and knowledge for practice is broad. Competence in skills, an important component of today's nursing agenda, must extend to any post-basic specialty a nurse opts to work within. To become 'qualified in specialty' (QIS) is an aim of nurses who work within the neonatal area of practice following qualification, a term that pertains to the competencies required to learn to progress in their career in a chosen field. To be deemed clinically competent should apply to all neonatal nurses across the world caring for neonates and their families in any setting. This paper focuses on a global perspective in relation to what competency means in neonatal care. The neonatal discipline is discussed as one example within nursing to raise issues for further discussion on an international level.