CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF NURSES IN THE PRIMARY OUTPATIENT HEALTH CARE SYSTEM

The nurse in the primary outpatient health care is one of the main providers of health promotion and prophylactic services. Nurses carry out various functions and have duties and obligations that are very different from those performed by nurses working in other sectors of the health care system. The purpose of this study is to identify the opportunities for professional and career development of nurses working in the structures of the outpatient health care. Material and methods. A sociological method was used to conduct an anonymous survey of 50 nurses working in the outpatient practices for individual health care and the medical diagnostic consulting centres located on the territory of the city of Sofia. The study was carried out with the assistance of the regional board of the Bulgarian Association of Health Professionals in Nursing - city of Sofia, during a postgraduate training course. The Bulgarian health legislation regulates the health promotion and prophylactic activities to be carried out by a general practitioner; however, the functions and duties to be performed by nurses in the primary health care facility should also be specified.