Signite's Magazine

Since mid-March 2022, staff in care facilities and hospitals in Germany have had to prove that they have been fully vaccinated or have recovered from the Corona virus. This regulation also applied to staff in facilities for disabled people, doctors’ surgeries, emergency services or maternity facilities. Otherwise, there is the threat of a ban on […]

The German TV station “MDR” (Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk) has been broadcasting the documentary series “Die Pflegeklasse” (The Nursing Class) for a short time. You can also watch it on the internet, but unfortunately access is not possible from all countries. The documentary accompanies six young women from Magdeburg who have decided to train as nurses. In […]

In Germany, so-called lower staffing limits for nursing staff have been in force for some time in nursing-intensive areas of hospitals. In this way, the legislator wants to ensure that there are always enough qualified staff available in the departments where good care of patients by nursing staff is particularly important. These lower limits must […]

In Germany, a so-called facility-based vaccination obligation currently applies to all persons working in medical care. This means that hospitals, rehab providers and nursing homes, as employers, must ensure that staff are vaccinated against Corona with vaccines recognised in the EU. From October, even stricter rules for proof of immunity will also apply. But the […]

The law was passed in 2015. It was to have been implemented from 2020. In 2023, Bavaria was the first to dare to introduce the language test for physiotherapists, among others… But since no other federal state did anything, the introduction of this test, which has long been mandatory for human medicine throughout Germany (at […]

Berlin is introducing a specialised language test for nursing staff with foreign qualifications. This makes it the latest federal state to implement the law, which was passed years ago, albeit with a delay. The specialised language test at B2 level is intended to ensure that the necessary language skills are available to work competently and […]

There are a number of accounts on Instagram that you can use to learn or refresh your knowledge of your nursing profession. You already know everything? Great! Then you can use the posts to improve your German as a foreign nurse. Most of the information is very compact and covers a medical or nursing topic. […]

The number of occupations in short supply in Germany fell slightly in 2023, but remains at a very high level. This is the result of the annual analysis of the shortage of skilled workers by the Federal Employment Agency (BA), which has now been published. Shortages in filling vacancies are evident in 183 of the […]

The Federal Cabinet approved the draft of the Nursing Competence Act yesterday, Wednesday. The aim of the act is to involve specialist nursing staff more closely in patient care and to make better use of their skills. This would enhance the status of their work and motivate them. In addition, doctors would be relieved of […]

In many sectors in Germany, there is a lack of qualified personnel. The Centre of Competence for Securing Skilled Workers (KOFA) of the employer-related German Economic Institute (IW) has published a new study on this topic. According to the calculations, the sector most affected is healthcare. According to the study, the greatest bottlenecks in this […]

The number of people in need of care in Germany has risen much more sharply in recent years than the number of people employed in the care sector. It is also taking longer and longer for vacancies in hospitals and nursing homes to be filled, while at the same time unemployment among nurses and care […]

The renowned Bertelsmann Foundation has published a new study according to which Germany needs hundreds of thousands of immigrants per year to meet its labour needs in the coming decades. Around 280,000 international workers would have to start each year until 2040 in order to prevent the potential of the labour force from collapsing. The […]

German hospitals have a massive staffing problem in nursing. Almost every hospital (94%) has vacant nursing positions on general wards that are not filled. Three quarters of intensive care units have vacancies in intensive care. And in two thirds of hospitals with paediatric wards, positions remain unfilled. The figures are the result of a representative […]

The new Immigration Act will make it easier for job seekers and people from the Western Balkans to immigrate to Germany. In this third and final part, we look at the laws that will apply from June 2024. Introduction of the job search opportunity card An opportunity card will be introduced for job-seeking residence. There […]

Staff shortages continue to be one of the biggest problems in Germany. And it will become even more acute in the future. This has a lot to do with the ageing German society. According to a study by the RWI – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research, 5.7 million people in need of care can be […]

The new Immigration Act will make it easier for skilled workers with vocational training and people with practical knowledge of their profession to immigrate to Germany. Here are the laws that will apply from March 2024. Residence for the recognition of a foreign professional qualification In future, anyone coming to Germany will have more opportunities […]