The European Commission signed an agreement with the International Health Organization (WHO) Community office to help member states alleviate the shortage of nurses.
“Nurses are the backbone of our healthcare systems and play a vital role in ensuring that patients receive high-quality, professional care when they need it,” the European Health Commissioner said in a statement. Stella Kyriakides.
Brussels will finance with 1.3 million euros for the program agreed with the WHO, which will run for a period of 36 months and will pay “particular attention to countries experiencing a significant shortage of health workersand more specifically a shortage of nurses.
The funds will be used for things like creating mentoring programs for new health care workers, analyzing the issues that are causing shortages to persist, and develop strategies to improve the health and well-being of professionals health care, among others.
More than 330,000 nurses in Spain
In Spain, the nursing profession plays a fundamental role in the health system. Nurses They are not only responsible for direct patient care, but also participate in health promotion and disease prevention tasks.research and care management.
Thus, according to the most recent data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE), In 2023, there were approximately 330,000 nurses and nurses graduated in SpainThis figure includes both general and specialist nurses.
Distribution by autonomous communities: The distribution of nurses varies between the different autonomous communities. The regions with the largest number of nurses are generally those with the largest population, such as Andalusia, Madrid and Catalonia.
Nurse to patient ratio: Spain has around 6 to 7 nurses per 1,000 inhabitants, which places the country below the European Union average, which is around 9 nurses per 1,000 inhabitantsThis proportion indicates the need to increase the number of professionals to improve the quality of care.
Importance of nursing activity
Primary and hospital care: Nurses are essential to primary care because they are the first to interact with patients, make initial diagnoses, monitor chronic diseases and provide health education. In hospitals, Their role in direct patient care is essential, as they manage everything from intensive care to palliative care.
Health promotion and prevention: In Spain, nurses play a key role in health promotion and disease prevention programs. They actively participate in vaccination campaigns, healthy lifestyle education and early disease detection. This is crucial to reduce the burden on the health system.
Specialized nursing care: There are nurses who specialize in areas such as mental health, critical care, pediatrics, geriatrics, and oncology. Their specialized training allows them to provide an advanced and personalized level of care in these areas.
