Commitment to the nursing training of the future
Sabina Decurtins
August 30, 2024
5 min
She is responsible for training the new generation of carers and has been working at Zollikerberg Hospital since 1999. In her hospital story, Sabina Decurtins, Head of Education at the Zollikerberg Healthcare World Learning and Education Centre, talks about her career path at the hospital, the differences in nursing from the past to the present and future challenges in nursing training.
How many years have you been working at Zollikerberg Hospital and what has constantly motivated you to develop your career here and to strive for such a long period of employment?
I did my training at PFLEGI from 1989 to 1993 and moved to Zollikerberg Hospital after the merger in 1999. I already held various positions at PFLEGI: as a vocational trainer, deputy ward manager and nursing expert. After moving to Zollikerberg Hospital in 1999, I worked on the general medical ward as a qualified nursing specialist and nursing expert and also as a vocational trainer in between. In 2003, I completed my training as a qualified nursing expert and have been working in this role at Zollikerberg Hospital ever since. I later took on the role of Deputy Development and Coordination in the Quality Department. Since 2020, in addition to my nursing expertise, I have also been Head of Education in the current Learning and Education Centre at Gesundheitswelt Zollikerberg. There are two things that made me stay here for so long. Firstly, I like the size of the organisation. We all know each other. And secondly, the atmosphere and the values that we live by. In addition, I have always had the opportunity to develop further in various tasks and functions.
What makes your current role particularly important to you?
I have two very interesting and varied jobs: On the one hand, I work as head of the learning and education centre and, on the other, as a care expert. I enjoy working with a wide variety of people in the organisation on a daily basis, networking areas, introducing innovations, managing projects and working in specialist groups. As a nursing expert, I can contribute to good quality of care and to strengthening interprofessional collaboration, and there are always new tasks. As Head of the Learning and Education Centre, I am committed to good training and further education opportunities for employees. In this role, I also enjoy devising exciting training programmes because I am convinced that this contributes to the best possible care for patients. I also appreciate the conceptual and strategic work.
What are important insights that you would like to pass on to new generations of hospital employees?
You have a job that is meaningful, that's worth a lot. It may take a bit of idealism. We can make a difference for people in crisis situations. I have never regretted going into the healthcare sector. The prerequisite is to enjoy working with people. In my view, the healthcare professions are also very diverse. The opportunities for further development are great. There are more technical training courses, such as those to become an expert in emergency care, and further training to specialise in specialist topics such as palliative care.
What are the current opportunities for training in nursing or other professions?
We offer various training programmes for nursing and other professions at the hospital and at Gesundheitswelt Zollikerberg. There are apprenticeships such as healthcare specialist and business administrator, as well as higher specialist training to become a qualified nursing specialist HF or FH, FH midwife, HF radiology specialist, HF surgical technology, FH occupational therapy, FH physiotherapy, FH nutritional counselling and many more. A great option today is that after completing an apprenticeship, you can also go on to higher specialised training. We also offer various further training programmes: Further training to become a specialist, expert in anaesthesia care, emergency care, intensive care and more. The variety is huge.
How and by whom are trainees supported?
In all areas and departments, there are a total of around 60 vocational trainers across the foundation who support the trainees. In my area, there is a training team that also supports apprentices and students with introductions, discussions, learning support and other tasks. In addition to training on the ward, we also offer training in our learning workshop and other forms of learning such as training transfer days.
Learn more
Our training and further education programmes
Start your career in the healthcare sector now. We are looking for people who want to help others and enjoy working in a team. Our 60 vocational trainees and around 250 apprentices and students look forward to working with you in the future.
How do you experience training as a nurse today compared to 1993? What has changed?
After my A-levels, I spent four years learning integrated nursing, a training programme for the care of children and adults. In this pilot programme, we had to reflect a lot and work out the reasons for our actions ourselves. This programme was very progressive for the time. Today, developing the ability to reflect is part of normal training. Today, interprofessional collaboration is certainly even more collaborative than it used to be. Nursing has been given a higher status. The theoretical foundations of nursing care have become clearer and more well-founded.
I remember when I started my training as a qualified nurse, there were no trousers with a tunic but rather work aprons. I found this very cumbersome, especially when mobilising patients. Fortunately, things changed from the second or third year of training onwards. We also had vocational trainers who supported us well, but there was still no learning training transfer day or learning time during working hours. We were often left to our own devices and looked after many patients independently early on, often with little support. Fortunately, things are different today. Although our students and trainees also work in the teams, they are supervised more closely. The way we work has changed in that there are more professional groups around the patients. This requires good communication between these professional groups.
What has remained the same is that there is a lot to practise: In addition to communicating effectively with patients and working as part of a team, practising skills such as taking blood samples or mobilising patients is also an important task. The specialist knowledge to be learnt remains very diverse, which also makes it interesting.
What challenges and opportunities do you see in the future organisation of nursing training?
One challenge may be that pressure is increasing due to staff shortages, which means that students and trainees can receive less support. The opportunity is that our professions are deeply meaningful. I always realise why I enjoy going to work today. The technical possibilities in training, such as modern learning media like videos and virtual reality, can also make training more exciting. I recently tested this myself and I'm really enthusiastic about it. In my view, however, this will never be able to replace learning from experienced professionals. The exchange with patients could also be included even more in the training; they are experts in their individual situation and can best describe to us what they need and how they deal with their illness.
If you had one wish, what would you wish for the nursing professions of the future?
I hope that we can inspire many young people to enter the nursing profession and other professions in the healthcare sector. That interprofessional work improves even further and that our teams work together even better. And that nurses and all healthcare professionals stay in this valuable profession for as long as possible.
What other goals do you have for your future career?
To constantly develop myself further. There is always something to learn. I want to keep enjoying my work and working with my colleagues and remain curious.
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