Immense intakes forced hospitals in Romania to hire healthcare workers even if they lacked the necessary training or experience. As the COVID-19 pandemic winds down, more and more hospital managers admit that the emergency hires are poorly trained.

Around 2000 healthcare workers were hired during the pandemic by hospitals and county health authorities throughout Romania. Last month, the Government decided to allow them to remain in the healthcare system even as the pandemic slows down. As a result, 2000 new positions were created, allowing each healthcare worker to remain on the job.

However, to get the job they had to pass an exam, and many of the pandemic hires failed it. Relieved of the pressures brought about by waves of infections, hospital managers are now voicing their disappointment with some of the staff.

“Staff employed during the state of emergency were supervised by experienced nurses because doctors were afraid that they wouldn’t manage,” said Beatrice Mahler, manager of the Marius Nasta Institute, one of the most important hospitals in Bucharest.

Other doctors argue that healthcare workers who graduate from nursing schools and other post-secondary non-tertiary centers are poorly prepared.

“They get diplomas far too easily, without knowing the foundations of medicine, without knowing how to take a pulse, give an injection, or find a vein,” said Genoveva Cadar, head of an intensive care unit, quoted by Digi24.

There are 240 nursing schools in Romania and 140,000 nurses are active in hospitals.

Romania was plagued by a shortage of medical workers even before the pandemic. Thousands of doctors and nurses emigrated to Western European countries in search of better wages, forcing those who remained to postpone retirement, and hospitals to hire out of desperation.

radu@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Dreamstime.com)