In the health care system of the Republic of Croatia, there are 30000 nurses. More than 7000 of them have college or university professional qualifications. Nursing education consists of secondary-level vocational education followed by two cycles of university-level education--baccalaureate and diploma cycle. A PhD cycle, which would allow the development of scientific career for nurses, does not exist. The secondary-level vocational school qualifications are not recognized by the European Union educational system, requiring a necessary reform in that field. The education of nurses should be attuned with the needs of health care institutions, and nursing care should be based on modern categorization of patients, standards of nursing practice, and clearly defined responsibilities. However, the Croatian Ministry of Health has not yet defined the necessary number of nurses in Croatia or their required educational level. Licensing registered nurses is another great problem that the health care system is facing, because Croatian nurses with only secondary vocational qualifications do not meet the requirements for licensing. The current legislation on nursing is still only formal and not implemented on a wide scale in the health care system. Considering the new trends, nurses in Croatia should work on developing a new systematization of workplaces and more accurate assessment of the job complexity index and nursing salary.

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SUMMARY -Lumbar discectomy is the most common surgical treatment for intervertebral disc extrusion. Postoperative pain is a common clinical problem that greatly aff ects the length of hospitalization, functional status and patient quality of life. Th e aim of this study was to compare the postoperative analgesic effi cacy of paracetamol administered intermittently and through patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) pump following single level lumbar discectomy. Patients who underwent elective lumbar discectomy of intervertebral disc extrusion at the L4-L5 level diagnosed by magnetic resonance of the lumbosacral spine were included in the study. Pain was assessed at regular intervals for 48 hours through a shortened version of McGill pain questionnaire translated in the Croatian language. When pain was monitored as a summarized variable for each measurement, PCA group signifi cantly stood up after 24 hours with better perception of pain compared to the intermittent group (c 2 -test, p<0.05). Adequate pain relief is an important aspect of postoperative care in spinal surgery patients. Postoperative use of paracetamol through PCA pump achieved better pain control and pain management versus postoperative use of intermittent paracetamol analgesia after lumbar discectomy.

Today the development of a unique professional language and publishing of professional and scientific publications is the basis of every profession, including the nursing profession. The task of the unique language specific to the nursing profession is to describe the nursing profession (to make it more familiar to the other team members and clients/customers), improve communication between nurses and other team members, help in health care improvement and administration, enable comparison of health care results, improve health care outcomes, as well as facilitate health care documentation and encourage research related to nursing. From the historical point of view, the development of nursing practice in Croatia was not accompanied by professional writings until the end of the 20th century, especially not by professional articles written by nurses themselves. By analyzing old writings and handbooks, the historical development of the written word of nurses is reconstructed for the first time in the region. BEGINNINGS OF WRITTEN WORD IN CROATIAN NURSINGNursing is generally described as a very developed profession with well-organized professional associations; it is oriented toward providing services within its own autonomous field of work and it has its own independent regulations and legislation. Furthermore, as every other profession, nursing possesses systematized knowledge and skills transferable by teaching, a well-organized educational and testing system for the future members, as well as a unique specialist/professional language. The task of the language unique to nursing profession is to describe the nursing practice (make it more familiar to the other team members and clients/customers), improve communication between nurses and other team members, help in health care improvement and administration, enable comparison of health care results, improve health care outcomes, facilitate health care documentation and encourage research related to nursing. At the same time, it enables that articles, handbooks, and manuals, books, and course books are written in the native tongue of a country, with contents different from that of other scientific disciplines, which will provide a clear framework of the occupational area of the nursing profession.

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