At the session held on 10 February 2022 the Government of the Republika Srpska was acquainted with and adopted the information on the development of the transition plan for adjusting qualifications of the employees to
job requirements in the health sector.

According to the Road Map for the Implementation of the EU Professional Qualifications Directives 2005/36/EU and 2013/55/EU adopted by the BIH Council of Minister, education of nurses responsible for general care must be adjusted to the aforementioned directives and organized at the higher level of education. At the same time, major modifications of the existing secondary school nursing curricula need to be undertaken. Ultimately, this should results in two separate professions with different educational levels and professional competencies, in line with the recommendations of the European Federation of Nurses Associations (EFN) as well.   

With the support of the Strengthening Nursing in BIH project, an Action Plan for the Transformation of the Nurse Secondary Education in the Republika Srpska for 2020-2025 period was developed and adopted in December 2020. In October 2021, a working group was appointed to prepare the transition plan. After firstly establishing the current situation regarding the workforce in the RS health system, the transition plan will define activities needed to adjust the qualifications of the employees to the job requirements and plan capacities of the educational institutions aligned with the existing workforce situation, knowledge, skills, competencies and migration.

In addition to the abovementioned transition plan, the secondary nurse education transformation will require modernisation of the secondary school curricula, harmonization of regulation, development of books of competencies and training of teachers.