University Medicine launches unique project
On August 1, 2022, Magdeburg University Medical Center accepted Vietnamese trainees for nursing training for the first time in its history. This special project, in times of acute nursing shortage is not only a novelty for the University Medical Center as well as for the Training Center for Health Care Professions (AZG), but also a significant gain with regard to the future of attaining and retaining nursing professionals. UMMD is cooperating on this project with another nursing school of the Europäisches Bildungswerk (EBG). This school has many years of experience and supports the University Medical Center Magdeburg as a reliable partner.
15 young men and women from Vietnam started their training at UMMD on August 1. The practical part of the training is carried out at Magdeburg University Medical Center. The theoretical part is completed at the nursing school of the Europäisches Bildungswerk. The aim is to recruit the trainees to work as nurses at the university medical center in the long term after their training.
Photo: Representatives of Magdeburg University Medical Center and the cooperation partners Europäisches Bildungswerk together with the new Vietnamese trainees.
Photographer: Melitta Schubert/UMMD
"We are delighted to welcome the young Vietnamese and appreciate the courage of the new trainees to take the step into a foreign country to learn here at Magdeburg University Hospital. The enrichment from Vietnam brings new influences and ensures an intercultural exchange, which we are very much looking forward to," says Christine Michelfeit-Schaper, Director of Nursing at Magdeburg University Hospital.
Stephanie Dolge, Director of AZG adds, "In addition to recruiting qualified nurses, our main aim with this project is to make training more intercultural, as intercultural care is also becoming increasingly important in everyday clinical practice. Thus, we see the recruitment of trainees from Vietnam as a great enrichment."
In recent years in particular, the shortage of nursing staff has become even more acute, as there are no longer enough applicants on the market. Magdeburg University Medical Center would like to counteract the shortage of specialists with this new project.
In this project, the new Vietnamese trainees receive strong support to improve their German language skills in order to break down the language barriers as quickly as possible. In this program, the trainees are prepared in particular for their deployment on the wards, where at least B1 language level is required. Further specialized language instruction for the new trainees is provided by the EBG and supported by the AZG.