Untergrenzen oder Personalbemessung in der Pflege

The lower limits for nursing staff—as red lines to demarcate a dangerous nursing practice—are not suitable for initiating the urgently needed trend reversal to improve staffing in nursing. The German Nursing Staff Strengthening Act sets the right framework conditions for overcoming the shortage of skilled workers by returning to full coverage of nursing staff costs, but this can only be successful if—as required by the Concerted Action on Nursing—the build-up of nursing staff is presented by a procedure for a needs-based nursing staff definition. With the nursing staff regulation PPR 2.0, the German Hospital Association, the worker’s union ver.di, and the German Nursing Council have presented a pragmatic but above all immediately usable solution that has been extensively pretested. This interim solution must now be introduced immediately and bindingly in the political process and the path for further scientific development must be initiated. Health care—not only in the current COVID-19 pandemic situation—depends to a large extent on an adequate supply of nursing staff. To also ensure this in the future is the order of the day and binding nurse staffing to a needs-based staff definition are key.