German Nursing Day 2025

Christine Vogler, President of the German Nursing Council, looks back at four unfinished goals from 2024—professional autonomy, self-governance, a unified education architecture, and real decision-making power—and shows that while nursing is more visible politically, the structures are still missing. For 2025 she sharpens the agenda: primary care systems led by nurses as first access point, legally secured expanded powers, a coherent education pathway from training to advanced practice, and a true nationwide self-governance of the profession. Her core message: no one will bring nursing good conditions from the outside—nurses must organise themselves in chambers, councils and associations.

Expanded Legal Powers: From “Competence” to “Authority”

With the new law on expanded powers, the federal ministry explicitly recognises that nursing does healing work and should legally be allowed to do more of what it already can. Nurses will be able to carry out defined medical tasks independently—such as wound management or catheterisation—based on either a medical or a nursing diagnosis. The details (which tasks, in which settings) will be set by self-administration bodies like the health insurers, provider associations and professional organisations, and a national Scope of Practice will be developed to define what nursing can and should do at different qualification levels.

Nursing Diagnoses and Speaking the System’s Language

A big open question is what “nursing diagnosis” actually means in practice, because Germany has no widely established nursing diagnosis system. Existing classifications like NANDA or ENP are used only patchily. Some experts argue that nursing should also strategically use parts of the ICD catalogue, especially those describing functional abilities and everyday activities, to make its work visible in the same language as the rest of the system. This debate shows that the profession will now have to decide which diagnostic systems it wants to use and who, at which level of education, is allowed to diagnose what.

Community Health Nursing and Health Houses in Hamburg

The Hamburg Health Houses are a concrete example of how nursing can reshape care: low-threshold community centres in socially disadvantaged areas, staffed mainly by nurses and Community Health Nurses, who advise, coordinate and navigate patients through the system. They spend more time with people than a typical short GP visit allows, improve adherence and understanding, and help families and vulnerable groups to access care earlier. Evaluations show a significant reduction in avoidable hospitalisations, but long-term financing remains fragile, with only one major insurer fully on board—despite clear health and economic benefits.

Academic Pathways and No Nurse Left Behind

The Federal Deans’ Conference highlights a highly heterogeneous education landscape: some bachelor degrees run six semesters, others eight, and connections to APN master’s programs are inconsistent. The new law initially links extended healing rights to bachelor graduates, raising concerns about nurses with “older” degrees or pioneering APN qualifications. Universities therefore propose bridging and certificate courses so that experienced, already academicised nurses can acquire the new legally relevant competencies without being left behind. Long term, full academisation remains the goal, but with a clear message: current practitioners are not a problem to be replaced, but partners in this transformation.

Practice-Based Innovation: Q-Müsli for Spinal Cord Injury

At the ward level, nursing expertise also drives innovation, as shown by the “Q-Müsli” project for patients with spinal cord injury. By redesigning a breakfast component to include more targeted, bowel-supporting ingredients, nurses were able to improve bowel management, reduce laxative use and enhance patient quality of life. This small but powerful example illustrates how nurses, through close contact with patients and systematic observation, can develop therapeutic interventions that reduce medication, support self-management and make care more efficient and person-centred.

Disaster Nursing: Prepared for Crisis, Not Just Routine

Disaster Nursing (Katastrophenpflege) addresses a gap that recent crises have made painfully clear: nurses are indispensable in pandemics, floods or power outages, but their role in civil protection is hardly defined and barely taught. New further education programmes now train nurses in disaster response and group leadership, yet experts argue this must be integrated into basic training and anchored structurally. Nurses are not only clinical experts in crises but also key communicators for the public, translating complex guidance into everyday behaviour—an essential function in a world of climate-related and geopolitical risks.

Nursing and Politics: The Rise of Pflegegrün

Alongside formal councils and chambers, new political networks emerge, such as Pflegegrün—an association close to the Green Party but open to all who want to push nursing issues forward. It offers nurses, students and allies a space to organise, discuss and influence party and health policy. Together with movements like “Pflege gegen Rechts” and a very active young nursing community, this shows that nursing in Germany increasingly sees itself as a social and political actor, not just as a profession operating at the bedside.

Overall Takeaway: A Profession in Motion

Day 1 of Deutscher Pflegetag 2025 paints a picture of a profession that is no longer content with being “system relevant” only in words. From legal reforms and academic debates to community health projects, disaster nursing, and political initiatives, nursing is actively reshaping its role in Germany’s health system. The problems—staffing shortages, lack of self-governance, patchy education structures—are well known, but the tone has shifted: instead of resignation, there is a clear will to design, negotiate and take responsibility. The congress feels less like an emergency meeting and more like the starting point of a more self-confident, politically awake nursing profession.