Wiesbaden (epd). The number of newly concluded training contracts for nursing professionals has decreased in the past year. As the Federal Statistical Office announced on Tuesday in Wiesbaden, 52,300 trainees signed a contract to become a nursing specialist in 2022, which was seven percent less than in 2021. The German Evangelical Association for work with the elderly and care (devap) called the current figures “shocking, but unfortunately not surprising”. Contrary to the national trend, the Catholic Caritas is not observing a decline in the number of trainees in its facilities.
Nursing continues to be dominated by women: at the end of last year, the proportion of women in training was 76 percent, and 74 percent of the newly concluded contracts. According to preliminary figures from the Federal Office, at the end of 2022 there were a total of 110,800 nurses and 35,800 nurses in training.
According to the industry association devap, there has been a downward trend in diaconal organizations since 2020. “We have significantly fewer applicants because we are in massive competition with other apprenticeships, which now also have to fight for every apprentice,” said devap Managing Director Anna Leonhardi.
In the future, the staff shortage cannot only be filled with applicants from Germany. “Efforts to recruit people from abroad for nursing training in Germany – always taking into account the ethical perspective – must be further expanded and refinanced,” demanded Leonhardi. In addition, the negative trend among retrainees must be stopped.
According to Caritas, nursing schools are struggling to recruit enough teachers for nursing training. The lack of staff in many care facilities is another aspect that makes training difficult.
With the Nursing Careers Reform Act of 2017, the previously separate training courses in the professions of nurse, health and pediatric nurse and geriatric nurse were merged into the profession of nurse. The apprenticeship has been offered since 2020 and the training lasts three years.