What is the impact of education and training on flexible nursing management? Experiences from a tertiary care hospital

Healthcare reforms and new legislations have a significant impact on patient care. New and more complex treatment designs and technologies are a great challenge for allied healthcare professionals. There is a growing demand for qualified allied healthcare professionals to increase productivity and to perform complex therapeutic regimens. Since recruitment of specialized healthcare workers is difficult, the University Hospital of Cologne arranges various training programs for allied healthcare staff. We provide more than 500 apprenticeship positions, 225 for nurses. Currently, 216 nursing students have been enrolled; thus, we have reached a 96 % capacity and could again improve last year's results. Some of our graduates continue their career in an academic course of study at university or a university of applied science. In this way nursing management loses qualified and dedicated employees at the bedside. In order to offer attractive alternatives to an academic course, it is important to complement basic education with advanced training and specialization. Traditional in-house education, basic as well as advanced training, is still the primary means to recruit qualified healthcare workers. Nursing management, therefore, still relies on this important strategic instrument for the recruitment and retention of staff.