Abstract

More than 6 million nurses work in the health services of the Member states of  WHO’s European Region. This makes the direct or indirect influence of the nursing profession on the process of health policy formulation and on the mechanisms of its implementation of considerable importance. The active involvement of this professional group in the process of health policy making at national and regional levels is an essential element of the new role of nurses within the WHO’s “Health for All” Strategy. The present study contains an analysis of the contemporary policy tendencies for the nursing services development in the following areas: development policy; legal and normative frames; human resources in the health sector;  nurses’ participation in health management; In conclusion the necessity for the introduction of a continuous process of strategic planning for nursing services’ development is underlined.  It should be performed with the active participation of specially trained, competent nurses and should be aimed at defining the priorities for the implementation of a national nursing strategy.