Premium
Nursing and midwifery education, practice, and issues in Israel
Author(s) -
Ben Natan Merav,
Ehrenfeld Mally
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
nursing and health sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.563
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1442-2018
pISSN - 1441-0745
DOI - 10.1111/j.1442-2018.2011.00582.x
Subject(s) - nursing , license , curriculum , christian ministry , population , medicine , economic shortage , nurse education , immigration , government (linguistics) , psychology , medical education , political science , pedagogy , linguistics , philosophy , environmental health , law
Abstract Nurses deliver most of Israel's healthcare services, yet its nurse per population ratio is only 5.9 per 1000, one of the lowest in the developed world. For several years, the managers of the profession have been pushing to upgrade nursing and to move it into the academic sphere. The semiskilled qualification of the practical nurse has been eliminated and training programs for registered nurses are being transformed from diploma training to academic degree programs. A midwifery license is accessible only to registered nurses who take a further 1 year of advanced training and sit the State Midwifery Licensing Examination. Most deliveries in Israel are carried out by midwives. Alongside the Western‐standard hospital system there operates both a well‐developed community nursing network and a strong mother‐and‐child clinic system. The acute shortage of nurses in Israel is now coinciding with a rising number of academic job‐seekers, which has encouraged the Ministry of Health to offer university graduates a career‐change program. Special scholarships are on offer in return for a 4 year commitment to work in nursing after completing an accelerated training curriculum (2.5 years instead of the usual 3 years), plus a starting monthly wage that is higher than the national average wage.