With the new nursing professions act coming into force in january 2020, new paths will be taken in the training of nurses, geriatric nurses and pediatric nurses. The three previous training programs are being merged into one – the generalist training program for nurses. The habberg hospitals and the leopoldina hospital in schweinfurt are already paving the way with their jointly operated vocational school for nursing and nursing care assistance.
"We are actually born partners!" Stephan kolck looks contentedly at the group that has gathered in the conference room at the habfurt hospital, according to a report from the habberg clinics. The board of directors of the municipal company habberg-kliniken sits there together with the commercial director of the leopoldina hospital, sebastian guldner, and the managing director of the caritas-schulen ggmbh, rudolf hoffmann, in whose hands the three old people’s nursing schools in the region are located. The school directors dirk niedoba (zweckverband berufsfachschule fur krankenpflege, kinderkrankenpflege und krankenpflegehilfe habfurt/schweinfurt) and siegmund klug (berufsfachschule fur altenpflege und altenpflegehilfe hofheim) are also involved as decisive persons who will fill the cooperation with life.
The content of the meeting is a cooperation agreement that sets the course for what is to come from 2020 onwards. In january of next year, the age of generalist nursing training will begin. The training programs for health care, pediatric nursing and geriatric nursing, which have run in parallel and largely independently of one another, will then converge in the training program for nursing specialists. The bundestag passed a law to this effect last year. Objective: to increase the attractiveness of the profession, to increase permeability between the various occupational fields and to counteract the shortage of skilled nursing staff.
"For us, generalism also means cooperation," explains, kolck makes clear. "We want to use existing structures." For example, when it comes to coordinating the practical assignments in both nursing and geriatric care provided for in the new training program. "Of course, we are happy to draw on the network of the school of geriatric nursing." Just as they like to send their students to the habberg clinics or the leopoldina hospital.
In mutual agreement, so that there are no staff shortages in either nursing homes or hospitals. "The new law is not intended to create hullabaloo, but rather "real cooperation", explains dirk niedoba, head of the joint school for nursing professions of leopoldina hospital and habberg clinics. For this reason, the cooperation agreement also stipulates joint activities for recruiting applicants, uniform selection criteria and a common understanding of training. "Such agreements are enormously important", says the principal. "Our primary goal is to continue to ensure the high quality of the training we provide."
In purely technical terms, however, little will change in the habberge district or in and around schweinfurt. The nursing schools for the elderly in hofheim, schweinfurt and munnerstadt and the vocational school for nursing, pediatric nursing and nursing aids with its two locations in habfurt and schweinfurt will continue to exist. In terms of content, however, the schools and other partners in school and practical training in the region are moving much closer together. In the future, there will be a three-year generalist training program here and there, with various in-depth elements, at the end of which you will be a nursing specialist. A degree that is recognized throughout the EU and is intended to open the way to nursing care for the elderly, as well as for the sick and children.
"At the end of the day, we’re all in the same boat", says siegmund klug. The director of the hofheim school of geriatric nursing is primarily concerned with the social significance of the nursing professions.
"We will need a great many nursing professionals in all areas in the coming years." Rudolf hoffmann hopes that the generalist system will make nursing care for the elderly more attractive and provide more "flexibility between the various occupational fields". A permeability that opens up new and more possibilities for all areas of care