Nursing education in Albania: Evolution and future prospects of health policy.

BACKGROUND Nursing in Albania has grown rapidly over the past decade in response to government initiatives to strengthen primary care. There is limited data on how this expansion has impacted the role of the nurse leadership, the scope of practice, and the characteristics of the workforce. AIM The purpose of this study is to try to describe the current demographic and occupational characteristics of Albanian nurses. METHOD A national survey was undertaken to describe the demographics, clinical roles, and skills of nurses. This retrospective study will attempt to describe the situation of nurses from 2009-2021 and the analysis in the processed dataset was carried out to explore changes in the workforce over time. RESULTS This study presents a retrospective analysis of Albanian nursing regarding the evolution of nursing. It also provides some information on the preparations for vocational training. In this study it is highlighted that there has been a reformulation of the theme of nursing professional qualification, and the need to improve the quality of educational processes and a wide offer of continuing education for Albanian nurses. CONCLUSION This study identified that some of the structural barriers to nursing in Albanian general care have been addressed over time. However, it also identifies ongoing barriers that impact the development of the nurse s role. Understanding and addressing these issues is critical to optimizing both the effectiveness of the nursing workforce and undergraduate education. NURSING IMPLICATIONS There is a clear indication of increased intellectual and conceptual accumulation in the decades when professional nursing education at the technical level has been part of the public policy agenda. This knowledge serves as a reference for the formulation of new actions aimed at other professionals who provide direct assistance to the population.