The German Federal Minister of Health, Karl Lauterbach, has announced that nurses are to be given more powers in their work. The aim is that in future they will be able to do more of what they are now only allowed to do under medical supervision.

This has long been a central demand of nurses in Germany. After all, they are very well trained, but often cannot really use their expertise. This has to do with the fact that in the German work system, doctors are of great importance and many things can only be done by them.

With a “Nursing Competence Act”, the profession should become much more attractive in the future. It concerns, for example, topics such as wound care, prescribing dressing materials or advising patients with diabetes on their dietary habits or changes in insulin. The new law is to come into force as early as next year.