Assessing current state of nursing in Mari El Republic and developing approaches for its improvement

Aim. Improving the nursing management based on a comprehensive socio-hygienic assessment. Methods. Analytical, statistical, retrospective and prospective analysis, data copying, opinion poll. Results. Positive changes in nursing service development in Mari El Republic were revealed during the period from 2000 to 2011. By January, 1, 2012, 7458 nurses with secondary medical education were employed in 50 medical institutions run by Ministry of Healthcare and in 306 village first-aid stations. The majority were certified and had a qualifying category - 97% and 67% respectively. The average value of nursing provision was 107.1 nurses per 10 000 of population, staffing - 95.5%, staffing based of the number of employed nurses - 72%. Ratio of job combining among nursing staff was 1.3, the «doctor-nurse» ratio was 1:3.6. Recently a tendency of nursing personnel outflow from nursing practice was revealed in the region. Since 2000 the number of working nursing specialists decreased by 380. The share of «young» specialists was only 7.9% of all the employed nurses, the share of nursing staff of pre-retirement and retirement age was 19%. Conclusion. According to the forecast data for the near-term outlook it is possible to expect decrease of nursing staff rates in the region. The creation of «nursing service management school» may solve the problem.

healthcare management, nursing, personnel scarcity, quality of medical care, management, competent leader