Health · Healthcare & Policy · 7 hrs ago
Spain Begins Process for Combined Critical Care and Emergency Nursing Specialty
Spain’s Health Ministry has begun processing a nursing specialty combining critical care and emergencies.
It would cover care in hospitals and outside them for people facing life-threatening situations or complex medical conditions.
The plan recognises the specialist skills nurses use in intensive care, emergency departments and emergency response services.
The proposed training would last two years and include supervised clinical placements.
Nurses in Murcia welcomed the move but said they had wanted separate specialties for critical care and emergencies.
SEMES wants emergency nursing to have its own specialty, saying it needs distinct training and that its proposals were not taken into account.
The ministry says it will consider a two-year training proposal, but the articles do not say when the specialty will be approved or introduced.
Spain’s Health Ministry has begun processing a combined nursing specialty covering critical care, hospital emergency care and emergency services.
The specialty is intended for nurses caring for people facing life-threatening situations or high clinical complexity, in hospitals and outside them.
The proposed training pathway lasts two years and uses supervised clinical placements.
The Spanish Society of Emergency Medicine (SEMES) opposes combining these fields and has called for a separate specialty focused on emergency care.
Nursing representatives in Murcia welcomed the move but said they had wanted critical care and emergency nursing to be separate specialties.
- Who
- Spain’s Ministry of Health is processing the specialty; it concerns nurses in critical care, urgent care and emergency services.
- What
- The ministry has begun processing a combined nursing specialty. SEMES wants a separate specialty for emergency and urgent care.
- When
- The ministry announced the move on Monday, 26 October 2026.
- Where
- Spain.
- Why
- The specialty is intended to recognize nurses’ specific skills in caring for people in life-threatening situations and cases of high clinical complexity.
Spain’s Ministry of Health
Spanish Society of Emergency Medicine (SEMES)
Scope of specialty
Spain’s Ministry of Health
The ministry’s proposal combines critical care, hospital emergencies and emergency services in one specialty.
Spanish Society of Emergency Medicine (SEMES)
SEMES wants a specialty focused exclusively on urgent and emergency care.
Training
Spain’s Ministry of Health
The ministry said a two-year residency pathway would be considered, with supervised clinical practice and simulation.
Spanish Society of Emergency Medicine (SEMES)
SEMES says emergency nursing requires specific, differentiated training adapted to its own competencies and work setting.
Process
Spain’s Ministry of Health
Not stated.
Spanish Society of Emergency Medicine (SEMES)
SEMES says its proposals were not incorporated and calls for transparent dialogue with professionals and scientific societies.
SEMES submitted a formal proposal to the Health Ministry for a separate emergency nursing specialty.
The Health Ministry announced that it had begun processing a combined specialty for critical care, hospital emergencies and emergency services.
SEMES voiced opposition to the combined proposal and said the ministry had not taken its technical recommendations into account.
Murcia’s nursing college president welcomed the new specialty while saying professionals had wanted critical care and emergency nursing divided into two specialties.
- Training pathway
- Two years of residency
- Specialty scope
- Critical care, hospital emergencies and emergency services
- Target patients
- People in life-threatening situations or cases of high clinical complexity
- SEMES membership
- More than 2,500 professionals
- SEMES proposal submitted
- 9 March 2026
3 sources
Las enfermeras murcianas celebran la nueva especialidad de Críticos, Urgencias y Emergencias
La especialidad conjunta de enfermería de urgencias y de críticos no convence a los urgenciólogos
SEMES rechaza la especialidad conjunta de Enfermería de Críticos y Urgencias propuesta por Sanidad y exige una titulación propia
What people are saying
is a very important step for us
surprise and deep discontent
A decision of this importance must involve the professionals and scientific societies concerned, through a transparent dialogue process that allows a consensual solution to be reached on the future of nursing specialization in Urgent and Emergency Care