Advanced training in nursing: important building blocks for your career
Content
- Further training is an important component in nursing
- Various qualification options in nursing
- Overview: advanced training in nursing
- Detailed information on selected advanced training courses in nursing
- Advanced training in intensive and anesthetic care
- Advanced training in operations service
- Advanced training in oncological care
- Advanced training in palliative care
- Frequently asked questions and answers about advanced training in nursing
- What does advanced training in nursing cost?
- How can I finance advanced training?
- What requirements do I have to meet?
- What are the salary prospects afterwards?
The care and health sector has been gaining in importance for years. Further training in nursing is particularly suitable for those who are already working there and want to expand their knowledge. The diverse training courses enable specialization in a specific area and can thus open up new career prospects. Which specialist training courses exist in nursing and what they offer ...
Further training is an important component in nursing
Progress does not stop at healthcare either. Therefore, nurses need to keep themselves updated. On the one hand, you comply with legal requirements with specialist training in nursing. Because the Social Security Code provides in SGB XI §11 further training for employees in the health care system. There it says that the nursing services are to be provided “in accordance with the generally recognized state of medical-nursing knowledge”. At the same time, further training in nursing can be a conscious career step. Reformed training also benefits from this.
In contrast to before Since last year, training in nursing and health care has been organized in a much more generalist manner.The nurse has recently been replacing the former occupations of geriatric nurses, nurses and nurses as well as nurses for children. The specialization in the areas of health and pediatric nurses or geriatric nurses only takes place in the third year. This new training enables an easier change between the fields of activity.
Various qualification options in nursing
Further professional qualification is possible in several ways. Further training, further education or studies. Somewhat irritating for many: The terms advanced training and advanced training are often used synonymously.
Strictly speaking, training mainly helps to keep up to date. Further training is regulated in the Vocational Training Act (BBiG). This defines and differentiates more precisely between four different types of training:
- Adaptation training
Through these training courses, the existing training and the technical status are adapted to current and new circumstances and requirements. - Extension training
Through this form of advanced training, the technical basis and qualifications are expanded and, in some cases, deepened in new areas. New topics can also be opened up. - Maintenance training
With these training courses, the existing knowledge is primarily refreshed and thus a constant professional qualification and quality is guaranteed. - Advancement training
This advanced training forms the basis for professional advancement (promotion) and taking on new tasks - usually with more responsibility.
Further training, on the other hand, refers to further training courses that are regulated by the Nursing Chamber. The job titles acquired there are protected.
Overview: advanced training in nursing
The academization in the care sector led to some changes. Professions that could previously be covered by further training have now been partially replaced by a degree. The best example of this: the teacher for nursing professions. Anyone interested in this must now complete a degree in nursing education. Nonetheless, the advanced training in nursing is very diverse. In terms of content, it roughly covers three areas: geriatric care, nursing and further training in leadership. The following information must be viewed against the background of the federal education system in Germany. Means: The health professions are regulated by federal laws. The professional qualifications are therefore valid and recognized nationwide.
If, on the other hand, it is about specialist training in nursing, the federal states come into play. Therefore there are no nationwide guidelines. For employees who want to gain further qualifications, this means that they should complete state-recognized further training if possible. Otherwise, problems may arise if, for example, you move to another state and your further education is not recognized in the new state. The names also vary from facility to facility: The advanced training courses in nursing include, for example, advanced training courses in the field of:
- Care in the endoscopy / operation and endoscopy service
- Intensive Care and Anesthesia / Pediatric Intensive and Anesthetic Care
- Intermediate care nursing / palliative care advanced training
- Nursing in nephrology
- Emergency care
- Nursing in oncology
- Hygiene specialist / hygiene officer in care
- Care in the surgical service
- Nursing in psychiatry, psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy / psychiatric care
- Management of a ward (of an area) / Nursing service manager (PDL) further training
- Practical guide
- Further training and examination regulations for nursing professions
- Continuing education quality management care
Detailed information on selected advanced training courses in nursing
In the following, you will find the most important information about the duration and requirements for the respective advanced nursing courses based on selected short profiles. Various technical schools, universities as well as numerous private educational institutions offer the corresponding courses.
Advanced training in intensive and anesthetic care
The intensive care unit and the anesthesia department of a hospital are used for this advanced training in nursing. At the end of your training, you will be given the job title “Specialized nurse for intensive care and anesthesia”. Here you sometimes take care of the seriously ill who need to be cared for in clinics or in home care. The sick often cannot breathe independently. For this reason, the content of this advanced training in nursing includes, for example, topics such as ventilation, handling the respective devices and emergency management.
This specialist training takes two years and comprises at least 1,200 hours. It usually takes place part-time, but it can also be completed full-time. Admission requirements are usually completed training and at least two years of professional experience as a nurse. The exception is the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia: Here you can complete the advanced training course in nursing without prior employment in your training occupation. In order to pass the exam, you have to go through a written, oral and practical part. Depending on the federal state, a salary between 3,400 and 4,400 euros is then possible.
Advanced training in operations service
Anyone who has completed training as a nurse or as a health care professional can continue their education in the operating room. You also need two years of professional experience (including half a year of professional experience in an operations department). The aim is to enable the employee to work independently and in an interdisciplinary manner with the various departments. This includes technical, organizational and nursing knowledge. The contents of the training include, for example, knowledge of instruments, medical materials and devices, special hygiene and sterilization procedures as well as emergency care in the operating room.
As an aspiring nurse in the operating theater complete a two-year advanced training course. This includes both learning tasks and presentations and concludes with a state final examination, which is divided into a written, an oral and a practical part of the examination. “Specialized nurses in operations and endoscopy” - this is an official name - earn between 2,800 and 3,900 euros. This depends on whether you are paid according to TVöD, for example, or whether you are staying in a private institution.
Advanced training in oncological care
This advanced training in nursing is aimed at nurses or health and pediatric nurses. Exception: In Baden-Württemberg, geriatric nurses also have access to this specialist training. You work with people who have cancer. Therefore, further entry requirements usually include professional experience in caring for cancer patients. The training includes learning content that overlaps with palliative care. Topics dealt with are pain therapy, wound and ostomy care, lymphatic drainage, but also advising relatives. The practical part of the training takes place in internal, operational and radiological departments. Due to increasingly complex treatment options, there are high professional demands on the nursing staff.
The training usually lasts two years, the participants attend the courses part-time. The training takes place in rotation with at least 300 hours either on a gynecological, urological, oral surgery, neurological or ear, nose and throat ward, on which mainly cancer patients are treated. For the final exam, the participants have to write a written term paper as well as an oral and a practical exam. Specialist health and nurses for oncology can count on a salary of between 3,500 and 4,560 euros after successful specialist training.
Advanced training in palliative care
Palliative care is less about curative treatments. Rather, nurses have to deal with patients who, for example, are considered to be “out of therapy”, but have a variety of complaints and pains. The task of palliative care nurses is therefore to maintain or improve the quality of life of patients with the help of pain relievers and other nursing measures. In addition to working with patients, you will learn how to deal empathically with relatives. The training content includes, for example, hospice work, pain therapy and grief work. Palliative care workers can work in special hospices, but also in home care. Case management is therefore another important component of further training.
The advanced training can be both part-time as well as full-time. Due to demographic changes, the demand for this qualification is growing. Anyone who wants to qualify as a palliative nurse needs a completed training as a geriatric nurse or health and nurse as well as two years of professional experience in the profession. The tests required may differ depending on the provider. Depending on the provider, the training comprises between 160 (recommended minimum) and 400 teaching units and takes about a year.
According to the German Society for Palliative Medicine, the training concludes with a colloquium in which the participants present a project. However, it can also happen that you have to provide additional proof of performance - for example in the form of an internship - for the certificate. Anyone working in the public service as a palliative carer earns between 3,100 and 3,500 euros. Large wage fluctuations can be seen with private employers - here you come to a salary between 2,500 and 4,000 euros.
Frequently asked questions and answers about advanced training in nursing
What does advanced training in nursing cost?
The participation costs for the various training courses cannot be quantified across the board. On the one hand, it depends on the provider. On the other hand, the teaching units vary greatly. For example, advanced training in nursing in palliative care can be completed for less than 1,000 euros. Longer courses, on the other hand, cost 2,500 euros.
Both are still relatively cheap compared to 5,250 euros for specialist training as a specialist health and nurse for oncology or 5,925 euros for specialist training for nurses in the operating theater service. And advanced training to become a nurse for intensive anesthesia care can cost as much as 6,950 euros.
How can I finance advanced training?
In some cases, the hospitals or employers take on further training in nursing. That depends on the individual needs in the respective clinic or care facility. In addition, nurses have the opportunity to take advantage of government support. This can take the form of a BAföG or a scholarship.
The Federal Ministry for Education and Research offers, for example, support for skilled workers with further professional qualification through the foundation for gifted students.You can choose between a further education grant or - if you want to complete a first university degree after completing your training - an advancement grant. Both grants are possible full-time or part-time.
What requirements do I have to meet?
Usually, the advanced training in nursing requires a completed training in a nursing or health profession. This means that you should have one of the following job titles: nurse, nurse, geriatric nurse, health care professional, nurse. In addition, you often have to prove a certain number of years of professional experience and ideally have already worked in the area in which you are continuing your education.
Anyone on government support When it comes to further training grants, however, you have to be careful: an age limit of up to 24 years applies. Applicants can be up to 27 years old, provided they can show credit periods such as parental leave or voluntary service.
What are the salary prospects afterwards?
A major influence on your salary level not only has the respective specialist training in nursing, but where you are employed. You can work at clinics with state, church or private sponsors. The difference: If you work in a state or church institution, your earnings are based on a collective agreement. The conditions here are often more attractive because the unions have negotiated them with the employers' associations. Private institutions, on the other hand, set the salaries themselves.
