> Access

• successful completion of ten school grades
• physical fitness 
• good character 
• admission test or interview
• a board decides on admission

> Programme

General nursing
• Theoretical instruction/subjects: nature and ethics of nursing; basic nursing science and research; nursing; care of elderly people; palliative care; home nursing; hygiene and infectiology; nutrition, diets for patients with specific diseases or special needs; biology, anatomy, physiology; general and special pathology, diagnosis and therapy, including complementary medical methods; gerontology, geriatrics and gerontopsychiatry; pharmacology; first aid, civil and radiation protection; health education and promotion in the context of nursing, occupational medicine; profession-specific ergonomy and bodywork; sociology, psychology, pedagogy and socio-cultural aspects; communication, conflict resolution, supervision and creativity training; structures and institutions in the field of health care, organisation theory; IT, special informatics, statistics and documentation; legislation relevant for nursing; medical English.
• Practical training: acute care in the field of surgery; acute care in conservative treatment; long-term care / rehabilitative care; extramural nursing, care and counselling.

Paediatric nursing
• Theoretical instruction/subjects: nature and ethics of nursing; basic nursing science and research; paediatric nursing; care of children and adolescents in crises; palliative care; home nursing of children and adolescents; hygiene and infectiology; nutrition, diets for patients with specific diseases or special needs; biology, anatomy, physiology; general and special pathology, diagnosis and therapy, including complementary medical methods for children and adolescents; neonatalogy; pharmacology; first aid, civil and radiation protection; health education and promotion in the context of nursing, occupational medicine; profession-specific ergonomy and bodywork; sociology, psychology, pedagogy and socio-cultural aspects; communication, conflict resolution, supervision and creativity training; structures and institutions in the field of health care, organisation theory; IT, special informatics, statistics and documentation; legislation relevant for nursing; medical English.
• Practical training: general paediatric ward; paediatric surgery ward; premature and new-born infant ward; extramural nursing, care and counselling for children and adolescents.

Psychiatric nursing
• Theoretical instruction/subjects: nursing, including nutrition, first aid and hygiene; psychiatric and neurological nursing; care of elderly people, palliative care; medical foundations, including psychopathology, psychiatric and neurological diseases, pharmacology; gerontology, geriatrics and gerontopsychiatry; profession-specific ergonomy and bodywork; sociology, psychology, pedagogy and socio-cultural aspects; conducting interviews, psycho-social care and working with family members; supervision; creativity training; structures and institutions in the field of health and social care, organisation theory; IT, special informatics, statistics and documentation; legislation relevant for nursing; medical English.
• Practical training: acute and sub-acute psychiatric care; neurology; neuro-surgery; long-term care / rehabilitative care; extramural nursing, care and counselling.

> Job description / field of activities

Autonomous activities
• assessing the care needs of the patients or clients and the degree of their dependence on care as well as identification and evaluation of the resources available for meeting these needs (nursing anamnesis)
• identifying care needs (nursing diagnosis)
• planning of care, defining nursing objectives and deciding on nursing measures to be taken (planning of nursing care)
• performing nursing measures
• analysing the results of nursing measures (evaluation of nursing care)
• providing information on disease prevention and taking measures of health promotion
• psycho-social care
• documenting the nursing process
• organising nursing care
• instructing and supervising auxiliary personnel
• instructing and supporting students during their training
• co-operating in nursing research
• performing life-saving emergency procedures if and as long as there is no doctor available
• etc.

Activities with shared responsibility
• administering medicines
• preparing and administering subcutaneous, intramuscular and intravenous injections
• preparing and administering infusions via an existing vascular access device, excluding transfusions
• taking blood from veins or capillaries
• placing transurethral bladder catheters for urine drainage, instillation and irrigation
• administering enemas
• inserting gastric tubes
• etc.

Interdisciplinary activities
• co-operating in measures to prevent diseases and accidents as well as to maintain and promote health
• preparing patients or persons needing care and their family members for discharge from the hospital or nursing care institution and providing assistance in the continuation of care
• health counselling
• counselling and arranging for care during and after physical or mental illness
• etc.

General nursing
Nursing and care of people of all age groups with physical or mental illnesses; nursing and care of disabled, seriously ill or dying persons; nursing contributions to rehabilitation, primary health care, health promotion and disease prevention in intramural and extramural settings; co-operation in diagnostic and therapeutic tasks on a doctor’s orders. In the special areas of paediatric nursing and psychiatric nursing graduates of educational institutions for nurses are entitled to do assistant work only.

Paediatric nursing
Nursing and care of children and adolescents with physical or mental illnesses; care and feeding of new-born babies and infants; nursing and care of disabled, seriously ill or dying children and adolescents; nursing contributions to health promotion and disease prevention in children and adolescents; nursing contributions to primary health care and the rehabilitation of children and adolescents.

Psychiatric nursing
Observation, care and nursing of persons with acute or chronic mental disorders, including institutionalised persons, persons suffering from addictions, mentally ill criminals (Article 21 of the Penal Code ( Strafgesetzbuch) and persons with intellectual deficiencies, as well as assisting in medical measures in in-patient and out-patient departments, boarding-out, extramural and complementary settings; observation, care and nursing of people with neurological diseases and the resulting accompanying illnesses; working with people suffering from mental disorders and neurological diseases; conducting talks with people suffering from mental disorders and neurological diseases and their family members; psycho-social care; psychiatric and neurological rehabilitation and follow-up care; transitional care.

> Career

Nurses may work as self-employed persons or may be employed by hospitals, other establishments under medical or nursing management or supervision that specialise in the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of diseases or in follow-up care, care of disabled persons, nursing of persons needing care or in collecting blood or blood components or that offer other health and social services; they may also be employed by medical practitioners, institutions or authorities offering home nursing or by a natural person.

> Further opportunities for education and training

Further training is offered in diverse subject fields.

Furthermore, there are the following opportunities for nurses:
• short programme for emergency medical technicians
• education and training for special allied health professions
• education and training for cardio-technicians (following a specialised course on intensive care or anaesthetic nursing)
• education and training in midwifery
• vocational matriculation examination ( Berufsreifeprüfung)
• university courses
• nursing science studies