As part of the "Skilled Workers and Qualification Initiative Nursing 2.0, 2018 - 2022" of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, the Ludwigshafen University of Applied Sciences 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 March 21, 2019, the conference was dedicated to the topic of "Strengthening Mental Health" with around 200 guests for the entire day. The event was opened with a welcoming address by Labor and Social Affairs Minister 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 care on Thursday, March 21, 2019, was dedicated to the focus "Strengthening mental health in the nursing professions" from different perspectives throughout the day. Among other things, the topics of prevention of violence against caregivers, appreciative corporate culture, motivation for innovation in care, care ethics as a resource in everyday care, slow care and the "kommmitmensch" campaign of the accident insurers were presented and discussed together with the conference guests.

The aim of the conference series, which takes place as part of the Rhineland-Palatinate's "Skilled Worker and Qualification Initiative Nursing 2.0, 2018 - 2022", is  to bring nursing professionals from practice, science, management, teaching and training into conversation with politicians and other professions and to jointly initiate innovations for the benefit of nursing staff and people in need of nursing care. The relevance of the topic was also taken into account by Labor and Social Affairs Minister Sabine Bätzing-Lichtenthäler in her welcoming address: "For years, the development and design of attractive working and employment conditions in care facilities has been a central element for all partners of the Skilled Workers Initiative in securing care provision for the future. Maintaining and strengthening the health and working ability of the nursing workforce is an important field of action for meeting the future demand for skilled nursing staff. I am very pleased that the Ludwigshafen University of Applied Sciences is making a positive contribution here with this event," said the minister in the university's packed auditorium.

The first expert presentations were then devoted to the thematic block "Prevention of violence against caregivers": 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," Oud explained. Accordingly, he said, it is not a question of who is to blame for incidents of aggression, but of raising awareness. The aim is to prevent and reduce the occurrence of aggression and violence in the healthcare system.

A look at the statistics shows that, contrary to the perception of the population, verbal or physical aggression has not increased in recent years; rather, in many places we are moving in an increasingly peaceful world, explained Professor Dr. Dirk Richter of the University Psychiatric Services Bern and the Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation of the Bern University of Applied Sciences in his lecture "Increasing vulnerabilities and increasing attitudes of entitlement - violent situations in the health care system in a changing society". The perceived increase in aggression and violence is the result of an increasing focus on it, respectively a sensitization, as well as a change in modern society towards a "victim culture", the expert said.

In the second technical block, Dr. Peter Mudra, Professor of Human Resources Management and Human Resources Development at the Ludwigshafen University of Applied Sciences, and Jens Leyh from the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering Stuttgart, asked about support options for employees in the care sector through an appreciative and motivating corporate culture. "Appreciation by HR management not only increases employee commitment and motivation, but also has a positive effect on physical and mental health," said Mudra, summarizing the results of current studies on the subject. Afterwards, innovation manager Jens Leyh used the example of "buurtzorg" to show the connection between innovation, complexity, ambidextry, rule-breaking and dignity as an inner compass, and considered how innovation is created in care and to what extent human-technology interaction could be helpful in this.

The event then kicked off the afternoon with a presentation by conference organizer Andrea Kuhn of 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 the results of her research on the topic: "Health is a human right. Nursing chambers are legally responsible bodies for the nursing care security of the population. Chamber members implement this political obligation. Therefore, the chamber has a responsibility for the health and well-being of nursing professionals. In the spirit of "caring for those who care," ethically good, health-promoting nursing work must be the goal in all settings," Kuhn said.

The contribution "Ethical Resilience Promotion in Nursing - Experiences from a Clinical Ethical Perspective" by Professor Dr. Settimeo Monteverde, lecturer in nursing and health care ethics at the Bern University of Applied Sciences, Department of Health, and co-head of clinical ethics at the University Hospital Zurich completed the major topic "Nursing Ethics as a Resource in Practice" with a look at conditions in Switzerland. "If one understands ethical resilience as the strength of a person to resist "evil," everyday nursing knows many situations in which such resilience is desirable: Deliberately deceiving or even lying to a patient who refuses to take medication, withholding relevant information during educational interviews because of time constraints, or failing to question established routines that compromise patient safety in both physical and moral terms," Monteverde explained by way of introduction. The resulting moral stress, he said, can be reduced by promoting resilience, for example, through immediate access to profession-specific and interprofessional ethics counseling, continuing ethics education, and intervision; embedding a culture of "speak up" in organizational ethics when ethical standards are manifestly violated; and collegial interaction with and appreciation of the professions involved in care.

Subsequently, the conference devoted itself under the chapter "perspectives for the care" to the topic "Slow Care - care movement in the time: The Heidelberger care teacher and care scientist Dr. Elke Mueller presented in it a campaign of the German professional association for care occupations (DBfK) southwest registered association, which makes the actual potentials of the occupational group of the technically maintaining clear before the background of lack of manpower, work compression, financing deficiencies in the system. SLOW stands for structure, slowness, orientation and foresight as important characteristics of good nursing care. Under the slogans "Safe. Healthy. Together", Dr. Christoph Heidrich, Head of the Occupational Health Unit, Prevention Department of the Rhineland-Palatinate Accident Insurance Fund, explained the objectives and structure of the "kommmitmensch" campaign run by the accident insurance institutions. Against the backdrop of an ever-increasing shortage of skilled workers in the care sector and the resulting above-average physical and mental health burden on care professionals, the accident insurance institutions want to promote a culture of prevention in the areas of leadership, communication, participation, error culture, working atmosphere, and safety and health.

In the last session, Alexandra Brecht-Klintworth, BGW Mainz, and Andrea Bergsträßer from the Rhineland-Palatinate Chamber of Nursing summarized the results of the discussion rounds. They concluded by asking whether the much-cited "culture of health and safety" is a reality or a vision. It was clear that although there are many good approaches, their implementation often fails in the face of 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 reality.

For the conference itself, organizer Andrea Kuhn, who also led through the day as moderator, drew a satisfied conclusion: "The registration numbers exceeded our expectations - the event was fully booked. The internationality of the speakers, with examples from everyday nursing care in Switzerland or Holland, was also a great stroke of luck for us. The open discussion format was very well received and the feedback from the guests was consistently positive," Kuhn was pleased to report.

The good feedback, also from the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Social Affairs, Labor, Health and Demography, encourages the Health Research Network and the 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 the spring of 2020. A conference volume is planned for this year's event. The abstracts of the conference contributions and the contact data of the speakers can be found in the abstract volume of the conference.

Impressions of the conference can be found on our Facebook page.

Contact:
Ludwigshafen University of Applied Sciences
Andrea Kuhn
Coordinator Research Network Health
Tel. 0621/5203-244
E-Mail: andrea.kuhn@hwg-lu.de