Professional independence and postgraduate education of nurses

Introduction
The specificity of the nursing profession imposes the obligation of continuous education, which is conditioned by legal provisions regu-lating the rules of practising the profession in Poland, taking into account the principle of independence and basing on the possessed knowledge, skills and competences.

Aim of the study
To analyse the professional independence of nurses after completing post-graduate education.

Material and methods
The research covered 580 people from Poland. The study used a diagnostic survey and used the survey technique. An original question-naire consisting of 25 questions was placed in an electronic form on the Facebook social network, which brings nurses together. Participa-tion in the study was voluntary and anonymous. The research was carried out on 13.02.2019 and on 14.03.2019.

Results
In the group, 3/4 of respondents defined independence as independent planning, implementation, and evaluation of the patient’s care process. 10.7% of respondents identified professional independence with independent performance of nurses’ professional duties. The respondents were satisfied with the currently functioning post-graduate education system (67.5%). Among the forms of post-graduate education affecting professional independence, respondents indicated: specialisation training (56.7%), specialist courses (12.1%), and qualifying courses (9.3%).

Conclusions
The nursing team is fully aware of the need to update knowledge and skills, because it has a big impact on the ability to gain the inde-pendence that is given by the acquired qualifications in the provision of services to the patient and the family.