Landschulheim Grovesmühle
Finalist for the region East
Co-winner of the „Best Scientific Analysis Award“
carEducation – because everybody could need care someday!
Our solution to the skill worker shortage in the medical care sector
Hello there! We’re the YES-Team from the Landschulheim Grovesmühle (short: LSG) and are currently working on the topic proposed by the YES-Team called: “Applaus allein reicht nicht – wie können Pflegeberufe attraktiver werden?” (engl.: Applause is not enough – How can nursing professions become more attractive?). Over the past few months we’ve tried to come up with solutions to this problem, and our idea is called: careducation.
As you can see in the shown graphs, the German nursing industry has a major issue to be addressed and fought: Until 2030 there’ll be around 500.000 nurses less than needed to fulfill the demand. And furthermore many people, especially young students, don’t think that nurse is a profession worth pursuing in the future, due to it being underpayed and requiring lots (often times too much) of effort. It’s also said that being a nurse only has negative sides. However that’s deeply wrong!
Many people only view this profession as exhausting, tiring and stressful, however it’s also got beautiful sides and a promising future ahead! And that’s what we want to address with our project.
careducation goes to schools and wants to change the student’s attitudes. We’ve designed a portfolio with lots and lots of information on nursing and tasks, fun and challenging, that can be done by students in 8th grade or higher. Special about that is, that this project-day does not in fact need lots of preparation. A teacher only needs to access our assignment-pool, in which we’ve collected information on four different categories (history, image, future and education). The teacher can then manually decide which tasks they’d like to do in class/on the project day. Solutions, hints and other helpful advice are, of course, given too. The tasks will then show the students the unbiased truth about the nursing profession and, hopefully, awake their interest, destroy their prejudices and show them the beauty of caring/nursing!
The assignment-pool is available on our website:
https://careducationyes.wixsite.com/startseite
Their YES! topic
Applause is not enough – How can nursing professions become more attractive?
by Michaela Fuchs and Julia Lang
Even though nursing staff have received a lot of applause for their work during the Corona crisis: For many people, a job in the care sector is not considered very attractive. The physical and psychological workload is high, and on top of that, the pay is somewhat below average. It is therefore not surprising that many carers leave their profession, although they have chosen it out of the conviction that they are helping other people and making an essential contribution to society. At the same time, the nursing professions are among the professions with a future. Due to the ageing of the population, more and more people will be dependent on professional nursing care in the coming decades. But already today, there is a nationwide shortage of skilled nursing staff. In 2019, there were only 39 unemployed people in this field for every 100 jobs registered with the German Federal Employment Agency for nursing specialists. For elderly care specialists, it was only 19 unemployed people for every 100 jobs. At present, skilled nursing staff for the elderly are in second place among the top 10 shortage occupations nationwide. This shortage is likely to worsen in the future, as the potential labour force will decline due to the shrinking population. Thus, demographic change doubly intensifies the need for nursing staff.
Keeping the current nursing staff in their jobs and inspiring more people to take up this profession is indispensable for ensuring the provision of nursing care in line with demand.
But what is most lacking in the nursing profession? Is it only the pay and working conditions, or is it the lack of social appreciation? How can the poor image of the nursing profession be improved?
And who can be targeted? Those already working in the profession, who would stay longer in the job under different conditions? People from outside the profession who are looking for new employment? Pupils who are about to choose a career?
