Review article
Nursing in Croatia: Past, Present, and Future
Sonja Kalauz
; University of Applied Healh Studies, Zagreb, Croatia
Marija Orlić-Šumić
; Zagreb University Hospital Center, Zagreb, Croatia
Dragica Šimunec
; Croatian Nurses Chamber, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
In the health care system of the Republic of Croatia, there are 30 000
nurses. More than 7000 of them have college or university professional
qualifications. Nursing education consists of secondary-level vocational
education followed by two cycles of university-level education – baccalaureate
and diploma cycle. A PhD cycle, which would allow the development
of scientific career for nurses, does not exist. The secondary-level vocational
school qualifications are not recognized by the European Union
educational system, requiring a necessary reform in that field. The education
of nurses should be attuned with the needs of health care institutions,
and nursing care should be based on modern categorization of patients,
standards of nursing practice, and clearly defined responsibilities. However,
the Croatian Ministry of Health has not yet defined the necessary
number of nurses in Croatia or their required educational level. Licensing
registered nurses is another great problem that the health care system is
facing, because Croatian nurses with only secondary vocational qualifications
do not meet the requirements for licensing. The current legislation
on nursing is still only formal and not implemented on a wide scale in the
health care system. Considering the new trends, nurses in Croatia should
work on developing a new systematization of workplaces and more accurate
assessment of the job complexity index and nursing salary.
Keywords
nursing practice; education; standards of nursing practice; competence
Hrčak ID:
27256
URI
Publication date:
15.6.2008.
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