Opportunities for nursing and midwifery research in Bulgaria

Abstract Background The training of nurses and midwives today is at university level and follows established standards. The 2009 Global Standards for the basic nursing and midwifery education of the World Health Organization requires that the curricula should include basic knowledge and skills for scientific research to implement evidence-based health care. In Bulgaria, scientific research among nurses and midwives began in 2000 and has seen more serious development in the last 5 years. Methods A content analysis of normative documents was carried out, to regulate the conduct of scientific studies and the curricula for the two specialties. Results In all documents on the activities of graduate nurses and midwives, activities related to conducting scientific studies are regulated. No mandatory discipline for these competencies is included in the basic education. In Bulgaria, there is a bachelor’s and master’s program only in Health Care Management, in which sociology, statistics, and research methodology are studied. From 2000 to 2016 nurses and midwives defended doctoral dissertations in a program for medical doctors. The first doctoral program for nurses and midwives is from 2016. There are no legal norms for stimulating and provide conducting clinical research, and to ensure evidence-based practice by nurses and midwives. Conclusions The normative regulation of scientific activity among nurses and midwives in Bulgaria corresponds to international and European requirements, but the opportunities for training are limited. The responsibility of nurses and midwives to modern society is to ensure high quality in health care provided by: a. providing opportunities for clinical studies; b. implementation of evidence-based health care and practice; c. developing programs for training for research in health care. Key messages • In Bulgaria, there is a legal norms for conducting nursing research, but not for evidence-based practice. • There is a need for more opportunities to train and encourage clinical nursing research.