As part of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate's "Specialist and Qualification Initiative Care 2.0, 2018 - 2022", the Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society, in cooperation with the Rhineland-Palatinate Accident Insurance Fund, the BGW and the Rhineland-Palatinate State Chamber of Nursing, organized the first symposium "Health Promotion & Prevention in Nursing": On 21 March 2019, the conference with around 200 guests was dedicated to the topic of "Strengthening mental health". The event opened with a welcoming address from Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Sabine Bätzing-Lichtenthäler.

Under the guiding question "Culture of health and safety in the nursing profession - reality or vision?", the 1st symposium on health promotion & Prevention in nursing on Thursday, March 21, 2019, focused all day on "Strengthening mental health in the nursing professions" from various perspectives. Among other things, the topics of preventing violence against carers, appreciative corporate culture, motivation for innovation in care, care ethics as a resource in everyday care, slow care and the accident insurers' "kommmitmensch" campaign were presented and discussed together with the conference guests.

The aim of the conference series, which takes place as part of the Rhineland-Palatinate state government's "Specialist and Qualification Initiative Care 2.0, 2018 - 2022", is  to bring together care professionals from practice, science, management, education and training with politicians and other professions and to jointly initiate innovations for the benefit of carers and people with care needs. The relevance of the topic was also highlighted by Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Sabine Bätzing-Lichtenthäler in her welcoming address: "The development and design of attractive working and employment conditions in care facilities has been a central element for all partners of the skilled worker initiative for years in securing the care provision of the future. Maintaining and strengthening the health and ability to work of nursing staff is an important field of action for meeting the future demand for skilled workers in the care sector. I am very pleased that the Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society is making a positive contribution here with this event," said the Minister in the packed auditorium of the university.

The first specialist presentations were then dedicated to the topic of "Preventing violence against carers": Nico Oud, international expert in aggression, violence and de-escalation management in healthcare (EViPRG, ENTMA, Amsterdam), presented a 9-phase model in his lecture "Prevention through de-escalation". "The zero-tolerance approach of the past has given way to a culture of mindfulness," explained Oud. Accordingly, the focus is not on the question of who is to blame for incidents of aggression, but on raising awareness. The aim is to prevent and reduce the occurrence of aggression and violence in the healthcare sector in advance.

A look at the statistics shows that, contrary to the population's perception, verbal or physical aggression has not increased in recent years; on the contrary, we are moving in an increasingly peaceful world in many places, explained Professor Dr. Dirk Richter from the University Psychiatric Services Bern and the Psychiatric Rehabilitation Center of the Bern University of Applied Sciences in his lecture "Rising vulnerabilities and increasing expectations - violent situations in the healthcare sector in a changing society". According to the expert, the perceived increase in aggression and violence is the result of an increasing focus on this and a sensitization as well as a shift in modern society towards a "victim culture".

In the second specialist block, Dr Peter Mudra, Professor of Human Resources Management and Personnel Development at the Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society, and Jens Leyh from the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering in Stuttgart asked about ways to support employees in the care sector through an appreciative and motivating corporate culture. "Appreciation from HR management not only increases the commitment and motivation of employees, but also has a positive effect on physical and mental health," said Mudra, summarizing the results of recent studies on the topic. Innovation manager Jens Leyh then used the example of "buurtzorg" to demonstrate the connection between innovation, complexity, ambidexterity, rule-breaking and dignity as an inner compass and considered how innovation can be created in care and the extent to which human-technology interaction could be helpful.

The event then began in the afternoon with a presentation by conference organizer Andrea Kuhn from the university's Health Research Network. Under the title "Nursing ethics and health promotion - new perspectives for nursing chambers", the nursing scientist presented excerpts from her research on the topic: "Health is a human right. Nursing chambers are legally responsible bodies for the security of nursing care for the population. The chamber members implement this political obligation. The chamber therefore bears responsibility for the health and well-being of nursing professionals. In the spirit of "caring for those who care", ethically good, health-promoting care work must be the goal in all areas," says Kuhn.

The contribution "Promoting ethical resilience in nursing - experiences from a clinical-ethical perspective" by Professor Dr. Settimeo Monteverde, lecturer in nursing and health ethics at the Bern University of Applied Sciences, Department of Health, and Co-Head of Clinical Ethics at Zurich University Hospital, rounded off the main topic of "Nursing ethics as a resource in practice" with a look at the situation in Switzerland. "If ethical resilience is understood as a person's strength to resist "evil", then everyday nursing care involves many situations in which such resilience is desirable: deliberately deceiving or even lying to a patient who refuses to take medication, withholding relevant information in the context of informative discussions due to time pressure or failing to question established routines that endanger patient safety in physical and moral terms," explained Monteverde by way of introduction. The resulting moral stress could be reduced by promoting resilience, for example through direct access to profession-specific and interprofessional ethics advice, ethics training and intervision, the anchoring of a culture of "speak up" in the event of a manifest breach of ethical standards, as well as the collegial interaction and appreciation of the professions involved in the provision of care.

The conference then turned to the topic of "Slow Care - Nursing Movement in Time" under the heading "Perspectives for Nursing": Heidelberg nursing teacher and nursing scientist Dr. Elke Müller presented a campaign by the German Professional Association for Nursing Professions (DBfK) Südwest e.V., which highlights the actual potential of the professional group of specialist nurses against the backdrop of a shortage of manpower, work intensification and funding deficiencies in the system. SLOW stands for structure, slowness, orientation and foresight as important characteristics of good care. Under the slogans "Safe. Healthy. Togetherness", Dr. Christoph Heidrich, Head of the Occupational Health Division, Prevention Department of the Rhineland-Palatinate Accident Insurance Fund, then explained the objectives and design of the accident insurance institutions' "kommmitmensch" campaign. Against the backdrop of the ever-increasing shortage of skilled workers in the care sector and the above-average physical and mental health burden this places on care professionals, the accident insurance institutions want to promote a culture of prevention in the fields of leadership, communication, participation, error culture, working atmosphere and health and safety.

In the final session, Alexandra Brecht-Klintworth, BGW Mainz, and Andrea Bergsträßer from the Rhineland-Palatinate State Chamber of Nursing summarized the results of the discussion rounds. They concluded by exploring the question of whether the much-cited "culture of health and safety" is a reality or a vision? It was established that although there are many good approaches, their implementation often fails due to the harsh reality. For the future, it is important not to despair, but to tackle the implementation of a small building block every day and to find innovative solutions so that a culture of health soon becomes a reality.

Organizer Andrea Kuhn, who also acted as moderator for the day, concluded with a satisfied summary of the conference itself: "The number of registrations exceeded our expectations - the event was fully booked. We were also very pleased with the international nature of the speakers, with examples from everyday nursing care in Switzerland and the Netherlands. The open discussion format was very well received and the feedback from the guests was consistently positive," said a delighted Kuhn.

The positive feedback, also from the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Social Affairs, Labor, Health and Demography, encourages the Health Research Network and its cooperation partners to continue the series of events next year. Building on this year's findings, the topic of "successful practice transfer" will then be addressed in spring 2020. A conference volume is planned for this year's event. The abstracts of the conference papers and the contact details of the speakers can be found in the conference proceedings .

Impressions of the conference can be found on our Facebook page

Professional contact:
Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society
Andrea Kuhn
Coordinator Health Research Network
Tel. 0621/5203-244
Email: andrea.kuhn@hwg-lu.de