Why are we running this project?

Demographic change, the shortage of physicians in rural areas, a lack of skilled nursing professionals, the rise of civilization diseases, and multimorbidity are some of the greatest challenges facing the German health care system. As a result, many people struggle to make their way through the ever-growing amount of health care information in order to meet their health care needs.This is where the new Community Health Nursing profession comes in: Community health nurses are academically trained health professionals for all matters relating to health care and illness. They provide advice, promote health literacy, carry out routine examinations, treat minor illnesses, manage treatments, and assist patients with mental health or chronic conditions. They support people from all walks of life and of all ages to cope with everydaylife, strengthening primary health care. The focus is on promoting good health and prevention in the local community.

What are our goals?

We intend to establish the concept of Community Health Nursing, which has long been tried and tested in countries such as Canada and Finland, also in Germany in order to strengthen the provision of primary health care in the long term. In the future, community health nurses will play a key role in patient-oriented primary and long-term care centers (PORT centers) in particular. However, the profession can be incorporated into a variety of settings.

How does the project work?

In order to establish Community Health Nursing as a profession in Germany, the Agnes-Karll-Gesellschaft, in collaboration with the German Nurses Association DBfK and the Robert Bosch Stiftung, carried out an initial survey in 2017 and developed a concept for the respective job profile. Based on this, the three universities involved – Philosophisch-Theologischen Hochschule Vallendar, Katholische Stiftungshochschule München, and Universität Witten-Herdecke – developed their curricula for master’s degree programs. Starting from the 2020 fall/winter semester, nursing professionals will be able to enroll in master’s degree programs in Community Health Nursing at these institutions. The first intake of students will be supported by a grant program from the Robert Bosch Stiftung (since 2022 Bosch Health Campus) and offered support by the Agnes-Karll-Gesellschaft in collaboration with the DBfK. Complementing the academic program, the Agnes-Karll-Gesellschaft will be organizing a symposium and a specialist event on Community Health Nursing.