Rethinking Nursing

The shortage of workers in the health professions is a global phenomenon and poses enormous challenges to health systems. The demographic development among other global changes will require fundamental shifts in healthcare for future generations. Healthcare for the future has to be designed right now! There is a large heterogeneity with respect to the role of nursing in this framework in different countries.

Even in some developed countries, like Germany, the development of nurses’ skills and their reflection in legal regulations lags behind global development. This has to be overcome by establishing global standards or guidelines implemented in national regulations. These standards should define competencies of nursing staff in the multiple qualifications and settings as well as the role of nursing in the multi-professional care process of the future.

Prof. Dr. Karl Lauterbach, the Federal Minister for Health of the Federal Republic of Germany, supports the joint efforts to establish adequate roles and competencies for nurses in multi professional healthcare teams in order to ensure health care at a high level in the future.

Only by establishing global standards which take into account regional needs and conditions will we be able to safeguard not only nursing excellence, but also the attraction of the profession which is needed to prevent a lack in the nursing workforce.