Incredible! Hungarian Ambulance Service forces drivers to perform nurse duties

According to 24.hu, the National Ambulance Service (Országos Mentőszolgálat, OMSZ) of Hungary believes that re-educating employees is going to solve the problems surrounding the lack of specialists. Ambulance drivers are already required to help during rescues. Now they are asked to pay for and enrol in nurse training programs so they can modify their employment contracts.

This all started when the National Ambulance Services promised higher salaries to those drivers who completed vocational training in nursing education. You can read more about the ambulance workers’ protests for higher wages here. At the time of this promise, the OMSZ said that the drivers’ duties would not change. Somehow they overlooked the fact that they cannot change the pay grades unless the employees decide to modify their contract. Meaning that it does not matter that they have a new OKJ qualification unless they agree to be listed as Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) too, not just drivers.

Of course if they are listed as EMTs, the drivers would be required to work at least one 12-hour shift every month performing nursing duties.

Being an ambulance driver is not enough

Many ambulance drivers are afraid that because of the lack of hospital workers, the drivers with OKJ qualification will be forced to work more as nurses. In this case, they would feel that they do not have the experience they would require to do this job confidently.

Zsolt Kusper, the president of the Hungarian Ambulance Workers’ Federation, says that the minimum 12-hour nurse shift is completely unnecessary if the only goal is to increase the salary of the more educated drivers. The only thing that the law states is that EMTs must have an emergency nurse certificate. The 12-hour shift is a stipulation of the OMSZ.