Tasks in the nursing sector

According to the official description by the Federal Ministry of Labour, your tasks in the nursing sector include the independent monitoring, advising, support and care of patients in an inpatient or outpatient environment. Depending on the specialisation and qualification, this also includes the documentation and evaluation of nursing measures as well as carrying out medical instructions and assisting with medical activities. At the same time, nurses are also competent points of contact for relatives.

In inpatient acute care settings, nurses are responsible for caring for people in the hospital. The day-to-day activities of nurses are generally carried out in a ward, in a specialist area or a department. These tasks may have different areas of focus depending on the hospital’s specialisation. Possible fields of work include surgery, internal medicine, gynaecology, orthopaedics, cardiology, oncology or paediatrics.

In outpatient acute and long-term care, nurses care for their patients in their own home. Nurses perform their daily tasks in the private households of patients and at the nursing facility of the outpatient care service.

In long-term outpatient care, nurses are employed in a residential facility, usually for old people. In a residential facility, nurses carry out their daily tasks in the individual private rooms of residents, in common rooms and in staff rooms/nursing stations. A special feature of the work in a care facility is that the nurses intensively care for residents over an extended period of time. They support them in their daily lives and provide guidance as well as giving residents a feeling of security. They often also have close contact with relatives and other caregivers.