Assessing the RCN Competency document on travel health

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Since the publication of the very first RCN Travel Health guidance document in 2005,¹ the RCN Competences have been regarded globally as The, ‘Gold Standard Guidance’, for not only nurses, but all health care professionals involved in the delivery of travel health. First published in 2007 and subsequently updated in 2012 and 2018, the eagerly awaited Fourth Edition was published in May this year.² Presented in an unchanged pdf format, it continues to be available as a free-to-access document from the RCN website. Having inspired health care professionals in countries such as Australia, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the USA, to develop their own guidance; and having inspired the first UK multi-disciplinary Travel Medicine guidance document;³ the RCN Competency document has a formidable reputation, but does the latest edition live up to its hype?