On Monday, June 19, 2023, Dr. Angela Walter, Florian Ebel and Jana Andersen from the Senate Department for Science, Health and Care were guests at ASH Berlin. Angela Walter heads the Controlling Unit, Florian Ebel and Jana Andersen work in the Higher Education Development and Admissions Capacity Unit. At the invitation of the ASH nursing program and the university management, the members of the Senate Administration visited the university's SkillsLabs in Berlin-Hellersdorf.
The aim of the meeting was to draw attention to the poor general conditions of nursing studies and to emphasize the demand for a sustainable financing model for nursing studies.
The study program team led by Prof. Dr. Katja Boguth, professor for the practical study phase in the nursing program, and Prof. Dr. Johannes Gräske, program director and professor of nursing science, gave Dr. Angela Walter, Jana Andersen and Florian Ebel a tour of the university's SkillsLabs. In these rooms, which were specially set up for nursing studies and have the equipment of a hospital room, it is possible, for example, to view the complete vascular system of a virtual patient anatomically with the help of virtual reality glasses and a motion controller.
The appointment was also attended by the Vice Rector for Studies, Teaching and Digitalization, Prof. Dr. Anja Voss, who pointed out the difficult framework and starting conditions for the nursing degree program, which was established by the state of Berlin in the winter semester 2020/21 at ASH Berlin, Charité and EHB to expand the qualification opportunities for nursing professionals and to meet the increasing demand for nursing professionals.
Johannes Gräske explained the three different learning sites in nursing studies: the lecture hall, the practice site and the SkillsLab. "The Senate Administration has set the credit factor of 0.5 for the work in the SkillsLab. This means that my colleagues who work 100 percent in the SkillsLab are only compensated 50 percent. Teachers who impart theoretical knowledge in a lecture, on the other hand, receive twice as much. That is completely incomprehensible to me. No other federal state has a credit factor of only 0.5," said Gräske.
Following the tour of the SkillsLabs, Theresa A. Forbrig, a research assistant in the bachelor's degree program in nursing, gave a presentation on the importance of simulation-based teaching. This was followed by a substantive exchange between the ASH Berlin nursing team, the Vice Rector for Studies, Teaching and Digitization, students in the nursing program and members of the Senate administration. The outstanding importance of simulation-based teaching in nursing studies for a competence-oriented curriculum, as prescribed by the Nursing Professions Act, once again became very clear to all participants. Dr. Angela Walter, Florian Ebel and Jana Andersen pledged to work for the adjustment of the CNW value, but also pointed out the scarce funds available. Katja Boguth emphasized: "Innovative and future-oriented education costs money! It shouldn't be that Berlin's universities, with their very different requirements, have to compete against each other in a distribution battle."
Nursing students Melinda Diener, Moritz Malycha and Rudolf Werbach, who also attended the meeting, expressed their concern afterwards: "We hope it became clear that the SkillsLab training in nursing studies is completely different from that in medicine, as the aspect of relationship building plays a very special role in nursing care and the courses of study should not be compared."