Nursing profession should become more attractive

In order to combat the shortage of skilled workers in the nursing professions and to increase the quality of nursing care, the Federal Cabinet approved the draft of the Nursing Professions Act presented by the Federal Ministry of Health and the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs on 13 January this year. According to the bill, the current three training programmes in geriatric, nursing and paediatric nursing are to be merged into a uniform nursing training programme with a generalist approach. In addition, academic training of nursing staff at universities will be made possible.

Creating a uniform occupational profile

According to the Federal Ministry of Health, the aim is to create the basis for a uniform professional profile of "nursing" that meets the requirements of nursing in the future. The aim is "to offer young people who choose the nursing profession a high-quality and up-to-date training that takes into account the broad professional spectrum and the developments in society and in the health care system and offers opportunities for development". The draft law provides for nursing training to impart "overarching nursing qualifications for the care of people of all age groups in all areas of care" for nursing in hospitals, nursing facilities and in the outpatient sector.

Experts criticise

The merger of the three occupational profiles has met with criticism from experts. How do representatives from politics, geriatric care, nursing science and universities assess the draft law? What points do they criticise? The Research Association for Social Law and Social Policy at the University of Applied Sciences in Fulda and the University of Kassel dealt with these questions at a conference attended by about 140 interested participants - especially from professional practice.

Politics emphasises the opportunities

Prof. Dr. Edgar Franke, Chairman of the Health Committee in the German Bundestag, introduced the planned new Nursing Professions Act from a political perspective. He emphasised the opportunities that the new law offered for the nursing profession, but also stressed the willingness of politicians to compromise and pointed out that no law comes out of the parliamentary process the way it goes in. For him, the discussion had the character of an "informal hearing", he praised the event.

Concerns of nursing homes taken into account

Claus Bölicke from the Federal Association of Workers' Welfare assessed the law from a practical point of view. His original scepticism had changed in the meantime, he said. Politicians have taken into account the concerns of the operators of nursing homes for the elderly. For example, it is now stipulated that in future trainees must work for the provider for at least 50 percent of the training period - which increases the bond with the potential employer.

Acquiring professional accreditation now at the university

Prof. Dr. Helma Bleses from the Fulda University of Applied Sciences commented on the law from the perspective of nursing science. She welcomed the fact that the new regulations would allow students to obtain their professional licence at the university. Previously, a one-year post-qualification outside the university was required for this. Nevertheless, Prof. Bleses called for improvements in the legal regulations to underline the importance of academic training.

Providing well-qualified teachers

Dr. Juliane Dieterich from the University of Kassel dealt with the challenges and implications of generalist nursing training from the perspective of educational science. In particular, she emphasised the need to provide a sufficient number of sufficiently well-qualified teachers at the nursing schools. In addition, the teachers must be given resources for the development of curricula - an activity that currently takes place rather voluntarily.

Dr Lukas Slotala from the Darmstadt Regional Council then looked at the implementation of the Nursing Professions Act from an administrative perspective. He went into the different regulations in nursing and geriatric care in the status quo and especially wished for sufficient deadlines from the politicians for the implementation of the new legal regulations.

Added value through structured dialogue

In conclusion, Prof. Dr. Stefan Greß (Fulda University of Applied Sciences) and Prof. Dr. Tanja Klenk (University of Kassel) - who were responsible for organising the conference - drew a positive conclusion to the conference and emphasised the added value of a structured dialogue between politics, practice and science. This assessment was confirmed by the numerous requests to speak from the plenum.

About the Research Network for Social Law and Social Policy
Since 2013, researchers from six different departments at the University of Kassel and the University of Applied Sciences Fulda have been cooperating in the Research Network for Social Law and Social Policy (FoSS). To support the research activities, the Association for the Promotion of Research and Knowledge Transfer in Social Law and Social Policy e.V. was founded in the same year with partners from practice. In currently seven working groups, the members of the cross-university research association work on questions of social law and social policy, which are pursued with social and legal expertise. This combination, reinforced by social and legal practice, for example from the Federal Social Court, is unique.