If you want to work in intensive care in Germany, you have to complete a special further training course in order to then receive the official title of “intensive care specialist” and be allowed to work. One problem: this education and training takes 5.5 years, so it’s long. At the same time, the demand for intensive care nurses is very high. Many hospitals lack exactly these specialists.

Starting in October, model projects will be launched at the Baden-Württemberg university hospitals in Freiburg, Heidelberg, Mannheim, Tübingen and Ulm, which are intended to enable faster further training and thus faster deployment of personnel in intensive care.

The trial envisages basic and advanced training lasting only 4 years instead of 5.5.

The so-called “3+1 model” envisages that, directly following generalist training as a nurse at the university hospitals mentioned above, further training for work in the intensive care unit can take place. If this trial is successful, the model will probably be adopted by other German states and the hospitals there.