Maintaining a register of nursing or midwifery practitioners and granting licenses

The Health Care Act stipulates that healthcare workers in the Republic of Slovenia must be entered in the register or hold a valid license in order to work independently in the healthcare sector.

The procedure for entry in the register and the granting and renewal of licenses is laid down in the Rules on the Register and Licenses of Nursing and Midwifery Practitioners.

Nursing and midwifery practitioners who must be entered in the register are:

• healthcare technician
• care assistant.

A healthcare technician is a provider who has completed a four-year secondary vocational school in the field of healthcare, has completed an internship and passed a professional examination.

A care assistant is a practitioner who has completed a three-year vocational school in the field of healthcare, has completed an internship and passed a professional exam.

A practitioner who must be entered in the register and have a valid license is:

• a registered nurse,
• a registered midwife.

A registered nurse who is responsible for nursing activities in the Republic of Slovenia and a registered midwife who is responsible for midwifery in the Republic of Slovenia have completed an appropriate first-cycle study program lasting at least three years and comprising at least 4,600 hours of theoretical and clinical education or training, and which is in line with Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications.

Required knowledge of the Slovenian language

Nurses and Midwives Association of Slovenia organizes tests of knowledge of Slovenian professional language:

• C1 oral and B2 written (for the professions of registered nurse and registered midwife)
• B2 oral and written (for the profession of healthcare technician and temporarily until December 31, 2027, for the professions of registered nurse and registered midwife)
• B1 oral and written (temporarily until 31 December 2027 for the profession of care assistant and healthcare technician)

License renewal

The license is granted to the provider for a period of seven years and is renewed on the basis of evidence of professional competence for further work in the field of nursing or midwifery. To extend the license, the provider must collect at least 70 license points during the previous license period and have completed all mandatory continuing education content – healthcare legislation and professional ethics, basic resuscitation procedures, and quality and safety in healthcare, with a minimum duration of 6 hours for each mandatory content.

Registration and licensing of practitioners who have obtained their qualifications abroad

The Rules lay down the procedure for entry in the register or the granting of a licence for practitioners who have obtained professional qualifications abroad, distinguishing between the procedure for entry in the register or the granting of a licence to practitioners who have obtained professional qualifications in one of the other countries of the former SFR Yugoslavia or in a third country and the procedure for entry in the register or granting of a licence to providers who have obtained professional qualifications in a country of the European Economic Area or the Swiss Confederation.

The Nurses and Midwives Association has also prepared explanations for foreigners in various foreign languages, which explain in more detail the procedures for the evaluation of education obtained abroad, the recognition of professional qualifications, the taking of Slovenian language proficiency tests, registration or licensing, and employment in the Republic of Slovenia, and are published in the attachments below.