Defining professional competencies is a complex and difficult task but one which we need to get right in nursing for all kinds of reasons. One of my concerns is that those defining competencies to support educational programmes, pay review and performance management, may not be looking far enough to the future. Although no-one can predict exactly where nursing will be in 2010, there are some certainties which we need to work with to ensure that future nurses are adequately educated, valued and rewarded. Predictions that we can rely on are that nurses will: