Authors

• Ivica Matić — School of Nursing Mlinarska, Zagreb, Croatia — ORCID: 0000-0003-4334-1158
• Ana Ljubas — School of Nursing Mlinarska, Zagreb, Croatia — ORCID: 0000-0001-5157-6200

Keywords

cardiovascular nursing, occupational standard

DOI

Full Text

Introduction : Nurse education in Europe differs between countries and usually adapts to the changes in clinical practice and the needs of society. ( 1 ) Transformation and adaptation have been especially noticeable in the last decade because development of medical sciences and advances in technology have significantly changed clinical practice. It’s completely clear that these changes lead to the alterations, expanded demands and challenges in nursing practice. ( 2 ) Those challenges demand certain changes in the systems of education, continuous improvement and vocational training of nurses. Therefore, development of specific educational program for cardiac nurses is needed to answer the needs of modern society, as well as follow the trend in developed countries where specialized nursing professions have been created. Occupational standard that contains the key information on the defining occupational properties, employer needs and workplace specifics will form the basis for development of quality educational programs. This paper will show the results of the Survey on cardiovascular nursing occupational standard. Methods : The data has been collected in the organizations that employ workers in the afore-mentioned occupation, the attributes of the described workplace, needed education, key jobs that workers on those workplaces perform, and the skills and knowledge needed for practice. The survey also collected information on the needed level of development of key competencies for lifelong learning, needs for specific generic skills, psycho-motoric capabilities and working conditions. Results: Survey on cardiovascular nursing occupational standard was conducted in Croatia during 2018. Research processed answers of 41 representatives of employers that mostly belong to the group of large employers. The jobs that the participants indicated as key in the occupation cardiac nurse can be summed in 28 job groups. Jobs that were mostly specified were conduction of diagnostic-therapeutic procedures, nursing care, educating patients and families, administering therapy, monitoring of patient status and administration. Knowledge and skills needed to work in the career of a cardiac nurse have been categorized in a total of 72 groups that include generic skills and personality traits. The employers mostly cite that workers should know the process of nursing, communication skills, conducting treatments, monitoring of patient state, education of staff, education of patient, know cardiovascular diseases and possess good communication skills. Most needed key competencies for life-long learning, according to the employer’s assessment, are oral communication in Croatian language, willingness to learn, written communication in Croatian language, having initiative and willingness to act. From the offered generic skills, the employers found responsibility, team work, focusing on patient needs and empathy to be crucial. From the psychophysical skills, the employers found the time of reaction and maintaining focus to be the most important. According to the employer’s assessment for the cardiac nurse occupation the most suitable level of qualification according to the Croatian qualification framework, which would comprise of university graduate studies or specialist graduate technical studies. Conclusion : Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of mortality in European countries, which has led to a renewed interest in developing specialized nursing education that is needed to bring forward the full potential of nurses that work in cardiovascular treatment centers. Standard of profession that contains the key information on the defining occupational properties, employer needs and workplace specifics will form the basis for development of quality educational programs.