The Impact of an Intensive International Course on Advanced Practice Nurse ( <scp>APN</scp> ) Educators' Teaching Readiness and Competence in <scp>APN</scp> Programmes. A Pretest‐Posttest Intervention Study

BACKGROUND: Previous research has analysed advanced practice nursing education and nurse educators' roles. However, limited attention has been paid, and a gap remains in understanding educators' experiences delivering the APN programme and their readiness to focus on their teaching roles. AIM: To enhance our understanding of nurse educators' experiences in becoming APN educators before and after participating in the APN educators' intensive course and additionally describe how participants evaluated this course. METHOD: A pretest-posttest intervention study. A total of 19 APN educators from the Nordic and Baltic countries completed both pre- and post-surveys. Fourteen respondents answered the course evaluation questionnaire. RESULT: This intensive course intervention appeared to increase APN educators' readiness and competence. Although the overall results were not statistically significant, the subgroup analyses highlighted that prior clinical experience, higher education and teaching experience influenced competency development. The course evaluation results indicate that the international intensive course was perceived as successful. CONCLUSION: This study provides new insights into the readiness and competencies of APN educators in the Nordic and Baltic countries. The research findings can contribute to understanding APN educators' teaching readiness and competence and offer directions for future development in education for APN educators.