Partnership with Poland Ministry of Health leads to training of 1,100 nurses at 230 hospitals

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. (June 30, 2021) – The Emergency Nurses Association’s international growth reached a major milestone thanks to an exclusive agreement with the Polish Academy of Medical Segregation for the Polish Ministry of Health that has resulted in the delivery of emergency triage education to hundreds of nurses in the last year.

Based on ENA’s Emergency Severity Index training, the association developed the ESI Live program that helped establish a standard baseline of triage care for the nurses at 230 hospitals in Poland in 2020. ESI Live involves – in a bilingual design – development of ESI trainers, on-site education, online learning and a certification exam that has been successfully completed by approximately 1,100 nurses to date.

ESI – long recognized as the leading triage resource used by nearly every emergency nurse in the United States – emphasizes a systematic assessment of patient acuity to determine level of care needs, all with goal of better patient outcomes. Prior to this partnership, Poland had no standardized triage system. ESI Live filled a gap in educational needs for triage and emergency nursing, as well as paramedics and other front-line responders in Poland.

“In Polish hospitals, there is a high need for training in the field of triage – 1,100 trained employees are just a drop in the ocean,” said Pawel Zwolinski, an emergency medicine physician and co-founder of PAMS. “The staff was very positively surprised by the ease and clarity of the ESI training, so we want to continue the work of answering the needs of our patients and employees.

ENA President Ron Kraus, MSN, RN, EMT, CEN, ACNS-BC, TCRN, sees the success of ESI Live in Poland as an important step for ENA as the premier organization for emergency nurses and the provider of high-quality emergency nursing education.

“We’re planting the seeds to grow internationally, so the ESI Live pilot in Poland is really a starting point for developing more relationships around the world and, ultimately, improving patient care by bringing the best emergency nursing education to learners in countries far and wide,” Kraus said. “ENA thanks the Poland Ministry of Health for its trust and support that was vital in this partnership.”

The future of ESI Live involves further growth in western Europe and the Middle East with the same plans to use translated materials and localized training to deliver greater triage education accessibility in countries throughout those regions.

Learn more about ESI Live by visiting ena.org/ESI.

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