In the period from 14-16 October 2022 a three-day conference titled “Nursing: One profession, many roles” took place in Sarajevo, to present project results and achievements so far. The meeting brought together over 300 nurses, representatives of relevant ministries, and managers of health institutions and students of nursing. The conference was an opportunity to round off the second and announce the third phase of the project.

 „Nursing is one of the principal elements of the health system in context of its resources, scope and the importance of the work nurses perform, and a significant investment in further development of nursing is certainly required. During the Strengthening Nursing in Bosnia and Herzegovina project, important foundations for the development of the profession have been laid, thanks to training, standardization of processes, enhancement of community nursing, and the development of communication skills that are one of the basic nursing tools. This creates an opportunity for better patient recovery as one of the crucial roles of nurses. I would also like to stress that everything was done in a close partnership with the Swiss Government, Fondacija fami and the Geneva University Hospitals. Successfully completed processes create preconditions to continue the joint venture and further strengthen nursing in the third phase of the project“, said the Assistant to the FBIH Minister of Health Goran Čerkez.

„Strengthening Nursing in Bosnia and Herzegovina project has initiated numerous processes, changed the way the role of nurses is perceived and drawn public attention to this profession. The nursing profession now has a clear path to follow, and our role is to support them and make that path passable. In the second phase of the project, we continued strengthening community nursing, providing equipment necessary for the provision of polyvalent patronage services and enhancing competences with the preparation of "Guidelines for the introduction of community nursing at the level of local communities in the Republic of Srpska", stated the Minister of Health and Social Welfare of the Republika Srpska Alen Šeranic.

„Over the last decade, Switzerland has provided support for building up the nursing system in BiH. Why did we do that? Because we are convinced that an investment in the nursing reform is an investment in the country’s development. Strong nursing profession can significantly contribute to an improvement of health services and patients’ quality of life. However, a lot of remains to be done in the reform in order to build a resilient and highly qualified nursing workforce and protect nurses’ rights”, stated Siroco Messerli, Director of Cooperation at the Embassy of Switzerland in BIH.

„Today's conference provided an opportunity to present achievements, exchange experiences and discuss the future of the nursing profession in BIH. Over the past ten years, more than 6000 nurses have undergone  professional development training, curricula and clinical skills cabinets have been revised and equipped at eight faculties of health care, scholarships awarded to 65 master's and doctoral students in health care, and 352 nurses from 22 municipalities training for community nursing“, said project coordinator Eldin Fišeković.