The EFN is participating in a TAIEX workshop in Belgrade, Serbia, organised by TAIEX in collaboration with the Association for Health Workers in Serbia, on 15-16 September 2015. Participants including professional organisations, regulators, trade unions, educational sector and representatives of the Ministry of health discussed the situation of nurses’ education in Serbia and reflected on the EU requirements of the Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications Directive. This is the second TAIEX workshop that is organised in Serbia with the aim of enhancing the dialogue among the different stakeholders involved in nurse education in order to put in place the necessary and actions to move forward.
There are many different challenges that should be tackled but very importantly, the education of the vast majority of nurses in Serbia does not comply yet with the requirements of Directive 2005/36/EC, amended by Directive 2013/55/EU. A small group of nurses that are closer to comply with these requirements are prevented from working in the country because they are not eligible to be given a license to practice. None of the stakeholders can solve this issues on their own and increased cooperation is urgently needed.
There is however a lot of willingness and the EFN and the experts participating at the TAIEX workshop offered their expertise to help them move forward. The representative to the MoH pointed out the need to develop a platform for collaboration in order to overcome the challenges on nursing education. Key actions are needed not only to increase the curricula to make sure it complies with the EU directive but also to make sure that the current nurse workforce is upgraded.
The EFN shared information about the tools available at EU level, such as TAIEX peer reviews, capacity building seminars, bridging courses, etc. The EFN Competency Framework was shared among the participants as a guidance tool to help them building a single system to deliver high qualified nurses responsible for general care.