The First Nursing Manager Congress in Ulm (09.07.2015 – 10.07.2015)
The congress was a huge success for Chief Nurse Helene Maucher who organised the event with her colleagues and welcomed 200 nurse managers from throughout Germany.
Guest-‐speaker Ms Roberta Christopher of Jacksonville, US, spoke about a very hot-‐topic – Magnet Hospitals. It was a very exciting and vibrant talk!
The situation for Chief nurses in Germany is very challenging. With the huge shortage of staff, difficulty in retaining a workforce, financial cuts, and the demand on nursing, all of them feel they are in a very difficult position. This is the reason Helene Maucher initiated this networking event for her colleagues so as to encourage the exchange of knowledge and experience.
In the ‘Speaker’s Corner’ of the congress hall 12 Chief nurses had the chance to discuss topics and issues in healthcare with the attendees and all of these speeches were very positively received.
Everybody in the room felt inspired by this extraordinary opportunity to network and learn from each other.
Ms Roberta Christopher spoke about the Magnet Hospital as chance to find real solutions during challenging times for healthcare. She discussed her hospital, which is a certified Magnet Hospital (only 1 out of 406 worldwide), and included the whole audience in her speech. They seemed electrified by her thoughts, ideas and words. Ms Christopher’s presentation demonstrated clear evidence that things can be changed when necessary even when resources are tight. It is undoubtedly difficult to retain staff that are already stretched to their limit but – with the right attitude from the managers – it can work. The message from Ms. Christopher was loud and clear and resonated with her German colleagues.
Dr. Feuchtinger from the University Hospital in Freiburg also spoke about the Magnet Hospitals as an opportunity for Germany and -‐ with great clarity and enthusiasm -‐ was able to define the role of these hospitals and the necessary management strategy for their success.
Prof. Donath from the University Mathias-‐Rheine in Rheine was greatly involved in the running of the event and ensured that the audience was able to follow the discussion regardless of the level.
A further presentation was given by Ms Henke of Sana-‐Hospitals, which demonstrated to the nursing managers some of the difficulties that nursing will face in the future as well as what this particular hospital chain (Sana) will do to try to avoid changes in structure and cope with the challenges ahead.
We all hope that this event was the beginning of a great network for nursing managers and we all look forward to the SECOND congress in Ulm in 2016, when Helene Maucher will open the doors of her hospital once again to welcome her colleagues from Germany.
Sabine Torgler
(English for Nurses Ltd)
Registered Nurse UK
