Expanding the role of nurses in Armenia

The dissolution of the Soviet Union and the declaration of Independence by the Republic of Armenia created the need for significant changes in the healthcare delivery system in Armenia. The desire to raise the level of health care presented challenges and opportunities for nurses within the Republic. Members of the departments of nursing at Boston City Hospital/Boston Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Worcester, Massachusetts, and the Emergency Scientific Medical Center of Yerevan, Armenia, joined forces through a grant written by Boston University School of Medicine and sponsored by the American International Health Alliance under a cooperative agreement with the United States Agency for International Development to expand the role of nursing. This article describes the assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation of changes to the role of nursing and the development of new roles for nurses within a hospital in the capital city of Yerevan.