Accreditation Board The Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic for the further education of health workers (hereinafter referred to as "the Commission') is, pursuant to § 40 (1) of the Act No. 578/2004 Coll. on Health Care Providers, Health Care Workers, Health Organisations and amending certain laws, as amended, an advisory body to the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic (hereinafter referred to as "the Ministry of Health') which performs tasks in the field of accreditation of further training of health workers, assesses compliance with the conditions of the educational establishment for the implementation of study programmes (specialisation, certification, continuing training), first aid courses and first aid instructor courses in accordance with the principles of accreditation of the Ministry of Health, continuously monitors and evaluates the quality of further training, develops and approves minimum standards for specialisations, certified work activities and ongoing training and carries out further activities in the field of further training of health workers.
In 2014, 6 plenary sessions of the Commission were held at the Ministry of Health. The meetings of the Panel working groups were organised by the relevant chairmen of the working groups, mostly outside the Ministry of Health, to prepare documents for the plenary meetings of the Commission.
The Commission continued its standardisation work this year and continued the adoption of minimum standards prepared under the chairmanship of the relevant working groups in cooperation with the main experts of the Ministry of Health, professional organisations, professional companies and practitioners. As part of improving the educational process in the preparation of erudite professionals in the healthcare provision system, the Commission commented on the proposals of the professional public for innovation of the applicable minimum standards. This year too, the Commission has assessed proposals for innovation of minimum standards, which will be adapted to the requirements of application practice in the framework of a yield amendment setting minimum standards for specialisation programmes, minimum standards for certification programmes and minimum standards for continuing learning programmes. As part of its work, it also addressed incentives to change the system of specialisations and certified work activities in individual health professions. Work meetings with change promoters were also held and supporting the definition of educational competences in the relevant specialization and certification programmes of individual health professions in cooperation with the Health Education Department.
The Commission continued the process of assessing new applications for accreditation and the so-called reaccreditations requested by the relevant educational establishments carrying out further training of health professionals. Information on the number of specialisation diplomas and certificates issued by educational establishments accredited by the Ministry of Health for 2014 is provided in an annex to this annual report.
In 2014, a total of 60 applications were submitted to the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic for accreditation of specialized study programmes, certification study programmes, continuing training programmes, first aid instructor courses and first aid courses.
To date, 800 decisions have been issued in the process of accreditation, of which 79 have been issued in 2014, of which 72 decisions under which the educational institutions are entitled to implement:
- Specialisation study programmes - 34 decisions (of which 8 decisions under reaccreditation);
- certification programmes - 7 decisions;
- continuing learning programmes - 6 decisions (of which 1 decision in the framework of reaccreditation);
- first aid courses - 21 decisions,
- first-aid instructor courses - 4 decisions.
In the course of the accreditation process, decisions on:
- rejection - 2
- standstill - 3
- stay of proceedings - 6
- cancellation -1.
The Commission took note of the fact that in 21 study programmes, educational establishments lost the right to carry out education, including in 1 specialized study programme, 1 continuing study programme, 4 first-aid instructor courses and 15 first-aid courses for applicants for a driving licence and drivers.
In Bratislava, 19. 3. 2015
Prof. MUDr. Juraj Pechan, CSc.
Chairman of the Accreditation Commission of MZ SR
for further training of health professionals
Annex:
- Number of diplomas issued on specialisation and certificates for 2014 in individual health professions by educational establishment