ZAGREB, August 18, 2018 – The Croatian Chamber of Nurses on Friday welcomed the announced changes in the emergency medical service system which are expected to expand the powers and enhance the education of nurses and emergency medical technicians on the model of European countries, as suggested by Health Minister Milan Kujundžić.
The association says in a press release that it advocates the establishment of emergency service teams that will include highly educated nurses specially trained for emergency medical service and who will have powers to administer necessary medications and conduct a set of life-saving protocols until the arrival of a physician or until the transport of the patient to a hospital.
For this to be achieved, it is necessary to amend the existing legislative rules which envisage that nurses can administer therapy only if it is in advance prescribed by medical doctors.
The association recalls that, since the start of the reform of the emergency medical services’ system, it has advocated higher education of nurses and medical technicians included in emergency medical service squads. To this end, the chamber launched the process for drawing up documents that will describe the required qualification levels for members and employees of emergency medical services squads, reads the press release signed by the chamber’s chairwoman, Slavica Šepec.
Concerning the minister’s announcement that paramedics may be introduced into Croatia’s emergency medical services system, the chamber says that engagement of paramedics is now a part of European trends in providing first aid to patients. In England and Ireland this job is done by highly educated nurses and technicians or medical doctors, and they undergo at least three or four years of tertiary education and complete a certified education programme to work in emergency medical services sector.
Health Minister Kujundžić said on Thursday the emergency medical service system should be overhauled and that over the past year the ministry had been working on changes to increase the powers and bolster the education of nurses and emergency medical technicians on the model of European countries.
“On the one hand, we are aware there are never enough teams that will urgently go out and save lives, while on the other, we are aware the system needs to be changed and adjusted to the world. A majority of developed countries have no physician in emergency care or have very few,” he said on Croatian Television.
He said Croatia was among the countries in the EU with the highest number of physicians in emergency medicine per capita. He said a paramedic system was being prepared for licensed people who went out in the field and did in emergency situations what a physician would do. He added, however, that there was certain resistance to this from the Medical Chamber and nurses.
