DETERMINATION OF THE NUMBER OF NURSES FOR HOSPITAL AID IN THE REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA
The nurses in the Republic of Bulgaria addressed a number of official demands to the Ministry of Health, one of them was to work out a long-term strategy for the development of standards, including detailed minimal requirements for the number of staff for both hospital, and outpatient care. Objectives: The goal of the current report is a summary of the regulatory documents, concerning the number of nurses in the Republic of Bulgaria, in context of the global practices. Methods: Current medical standards in the Republic of Bulgaria are being taken into account, and methods for determining the number of nurses in other countries. Results: In the period between November and December 2020, within the public consultations for projects of different Regulations for approval of medical standards, the proposed and developed methods by the Bulgarian association of health professionals in nursing to be included in the standards, which concern calculating the necessary staff of nurses, was not admitted for inclusion in any of those standards. Conclusions: Until now, the number of active nurses in the Republic of Bulgaria in all active medical standards is calculated either on the basis of doctors (not patients), or it’s pointed out that the methods of calculating the sufficient number of nurses may be applied. It should be noted that the International Council of Nurses, actually does not recommend universal methods for all countries worldwide.