Signite's Magazine

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 […]

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 […]

A nursing home in Hesse is allowed to release two employees who have not been vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 from work. This was the decision of the local labour court in a summary proceeding. On 12 April, the competent court had rejected the applications of a residential area manager and a nursing specialist for employment with […]

This is the very first news from Signite. In the future, interesting, important and sometimes funny things will be published here at irregular intervals – above all, but not only for nurses. We want to keep you informed and up to date about things you might not otherwise notice: because you don’t yet surf German […]

A major reform is to create a new basis for hospital care in Germany. The Bundestag (lower house of parliament) was followed today by the Bundesrat (upper house representing the federal states) in approving the reform. A number of hospitals have experienced financial problems in the recent past, partly due to the previous system, and […]

The federal state of Brandenburg has launched a digital platform to facilitate the recruitment and integration of international nursing professionals. The online portal ‘Working in Nursing’ offers comprehensive information for professional nursing staff from abroad. The platform offers advice and support as well as practical assistance on topics such as entry, work permits and German […]

The Institute for Employment Research in Nuremberg announced that in June 2023, almost 1.7 million employees subject to social security contributions were working in nursing care. According to the study, the increase in specialist nursing staff is due exclusively to foreign employees working in Germany. Between 2013 and 2023, the number of foreign employees in […]

The industry trade union IG BCE and the German Association of Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies are warning of impending competitive disadvantages and a weakening of innovative strength. The most important reason for this is the significant shortage of labour. This applies to laboratories as well as to production halls and research departments in the industry. According […]