Page 9 - Lessons learned from Ebola & COVID19 - June 2020
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DIRECTIVE 2013/55/EU - COMPETENCIES (Art 31) for Nurses

                  ✓   To independently diagnose the nursing care - plan, organise and implement nursing care
                  ✓   To work together effectively with other actors in the health sector
                  ✓   To empower individuals, families and groups towards healthy lifestyles and self-care
                  ✓   To independently initiative life-preserving in crises and disaster situations
                  ✓   To independently give advice to, instruct and support persons needing care and their attachment figures
                  ✓   To independently assure quality of and to evaluate nursing care
                  ✓   To comprehensively communicate professionally and to cooperate with members of the other professions in the health sector
                  ✓   To analyse the care quality to improve the own professional practice as a general care nurse


                  v.   Proportionality Directive

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               The Directive 2005/36/EC (modernised by Directive 2013/55/EU) strengthens nursing  as a profession, and the
               proportionality  Directive  goes  even  beyond  that  strengthening  as  national  governments  need  to  co-design
               preparedness policies, with the profession. The delivery of hands-on care for patients, and coordination of the
               care process to achieve better health outcomes requires a highly qualified nursing and health workforce. The
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               European Commission Directive on a proportionality test  used before adopting new or modified regulations
               impacting on nurse education, service delivery and health outcomes, is key for preparedness, even in crisis, even
               more in times of crisis as Ebola and COVID-19. Ministers of Health need to decide based on the dialogue they
               had with the representatives of the profession, and any legislative outcome, need to be in line with the existing
               European Directives. It is key to ensure the adoption of legislative measures able to preserve the safety and
               quality of patient care, as well as the national specificities in their demographical, geographical and cultural
               realities and make sure that regulation is based on proper justifications by the EU Member States. It is also
               crucial to ensure that the level of protection of public health will not be undermined by the new provisions and
               that  EU  citizens  continue  to  enjoy  access  to  appropriately  trained  and  regulated  professionals.  The
               proportionality test can play an important part in achieving this across the EU.

                 vi.   Continuous Professional Development (CPD)/Lifelong Learning

               Finally, investment in the education of the nursing workforce, enhancing the role of Continuous Professional
               Development (CPD)/Lifelong Learning is an equal important step forward, to ensure the nursing workforce is
               properly skilled and prepared to provide high quality care and patient safety, next to contributing to improving
               patient outcomes and increasing the public confidence in the nursing profession. However, in reality, it is evident
               that nurses lack working time to attend face-to-face courses and other educational opportunities. In COVID-19
               times, there is little time to become a “link COVID nurse”, which is not a specialist nurse, but a general care nurse
               with a specific COVID-19 responsibility  on each unit. In addition to specific requirements in the current COVID-
               19 crisis other essential policies such as the elimination of unsafe procedures as well as the transition to safe
               sharps protection mechanism and devices is key for frontline nurses.


















               28  EFN Competency Framework. http://www.efnweb.be/?page_id=6897
               29  http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=COM:2016:0822:FIN


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