Not Just a Nurse: There Will Be a Revolution in School Healthcare

• There is a shortage of nurses in Polish schools, and those from primary health care sometimes do not have the appropriate training to work with children.
• The Ministry of Health announces changes to regulations
• He wants to allow representatives of other medical professions to provide health care in schools.

The Ministry of Health is finalizing work on amending the law on health care for students.

In response to a parliamentary question from Ewa Malik , Deputy Minister Jerzy Szafranowicz informed that the aim of the planned changes is to increase the availability and improve the functioning of preventive health care in schools.

The new regulations are intended to expand the group of people who will be able to provide healthcare to students, including nurses with a bachelor’s degree, midwives and paramedics.

The project envisages that the function of a school nurse will be available not only to people with specialization or postgraduate courses, but also to those who have a professional bachelor's degree in nursing and at least one year of experience in the profession.

Additionally, nurses who have completed a qualifying course in family or pediatric nursing, as well as those who are still in the process of completing such a course, will be entitled to provide health care to students.

The proposal for changes and expanding the circle of people who will be able to work in schools, taking care of students’ health, results from the current staff shortages.

These are not all the planned changes. The Ministry of Health has proposed that midwives who have completed a qualification course on the teaching and upbringing environment can also work in schools.

Importantly, the ministry is also analyzing the possibility of including another group of medics in the school care system. This includes paramedics who have received appropriate training.

Such changes - as the Ministry of Health argues - would not only increase the availability of staff, but also make the model of providing health services in educational institutions more flexible.

The project - as announced by the Deputy Minister of Health - will soon be submitted to inter-ministerial consultations, opinions and public consultations.

The school nurse, as part of her care for students, implements preventive programs and basic health services such as blood pressure measurement, vision checks, educational activities. The school nurse also provides emergency care in emergencies.

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