/image alliance, Martin Schutt
Wiesbaden – Three years after the introduction of the nursing profession, around 33,600 people have completed this training for the first time. Of these graduates in 2023, 99 percent (33,100) chose a generalist qualification as a nursing specialist, the Federal Statistical Office announced.
Only a minimal proportion (one percent) acquired a degree with a focus on health and pediatric nursing (300 graduates) or geriatric nursing (100).
The new training has been offered since 2020. At that time, the previously separate training courses for the professions of healthcare and nursing personnel, healthcare and pediatric nurses and geriatric nurses were combined.
According to the data, about 54,400 people started training to become nursing specialists last year. The proportion of women was 73 percent. Overall, the number of new hires increased by four percent compared to the previous year.
“However, the previous maximum of 56,300 new contracts from 2021 could not be reached,” the statisticians explained. Over all years, the number of graduates was 146,900 at the end of 2023.
The training has been offered since 2020 and lasts three years full-time. “The training takes place in nursing schools and in hospitals, inpatient or outpatient units”, he says. As with most health and nursing professions, this is not a professional training within the scope of the dual training system.
The need for nursing staff will increase significantly in the coming years: The Federal Statistical Office calculated in 2023 that the number of people in need of care in Germany would increase from around 5.0 million to around 6.8 million by the end of 2021 due to the increasing ageing population. The number of people in need of care in Germany alone will increase by 2055 (by 37 percent).
O German Hospital Society (DKG) does not assume that the plus will change the fundamental situation of the shortage of skilled workers. “Despite the current increase in the number of trainees, the German healthcare system will no longer be able to cover its nursing staff needs in the medium term without changes,” said DKG President Gerald Gaß.
Demographic changes, more elderly patients and, at the same time, more and more nursing staff leaving the profession for reasons of age as younger people join – all this will “further exacerbate the shortage of skilled nursing workers”. Immigration of skilled workers could only be one of many approaches.
To solve the care problem, fundamental reforms are necessary from the DKG’s point of view. The first priority must be to reduce bureaucracy. A second point is the fundamental transformation of our healthcare into a prevention-oriented system. © afp/dpa/may/aerzteblatt.de